The three companies are IBM Corp., Credit Suisse Group, and Intel Corp. We have posted the article
Accounting Without Borders: Has Its Time Come? (PDF 1,114k) by Ellen M. Heffes and Cheryl de Mesa Graziano with the kind permission of
Financial Executive magazine. Excerpts:
- IBM. Though application is currently concentrated in areas where it is mandatory, IBM is looking to IFRSs to facilitate more streamlined accounting operations and standardised accounting policy in countries where IFRS adoption is optional.
- Credit Suisse. To reduce operational risk, Credit Suisse is applying 'full-fledged IFRSs; we're not taking any shortcuts.' That is, the company is applying the full set of standards, rather than considering the 13 IFRS exemptions permitted by IFRS 1 First-time Adoption of IFRS. Furthermore, the company made a conscious decision, where possible, to 'align our treatment and application – our interpretation of IFRSs – to be the same as US GAAP'.
- Intel. Maxwell J. Downing, Intel's IFRS policy controller, notes that in mid-2006, when Intel "really began to focus our efforts on trying to characterise the opportunity that IFRS would allow," the company also looked at standardising policies, training and procedures. "Our focus stemmed from an interest that IFRSs would be 'one-size-fits-all' [that] would allow us to standardise and simplify and potentially centralise many of our statutory-related activities." In retrospect, he comments, this hasn't proven to be entirely accurate, due to local tailoring. An example of this, he says, is Chinese accounting, characterised as a movement towards IFRSs. It's true, says Downing, the standards are an improvement and more aligned with IFRSs than Chinese GAAP was in the past. "But they're only generally aligned to IFRS," he says. "And, we're finding this to be fairly common around the world."
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