Over half of US SMEs want separate standards
03 Aug 2009
A Deloitte survey has found that more than half (51%) of small and mid-size private company respondents (revenues less than US$1 billion) support separate accounting standards for private and public companies.
Deloitte surveyed finance professionals from 225 private companies in June 2009 to gather data and information about the challenges of current US GAAP and the level of interest in the IFRS for SMEs. Financial professionals of private companies from various industries and sizes responded. Two-thirds of the companies had 20 or fewer employees, and 42% had sales less than US$100 million. Highlights of the survey report include:
- 51% of SME respondents believe that there should be separate accounting standards for public and private companies.
- 43% of SME respondents are not aware of the IASB's standard IFRS for SMEs, indicating the need for more education.
- SME respondents view fair value measurement (42%), accounting for income taxes (23%), and consolidations (10%) as the top areas of US GAAP in need of simplification.
- 10% of SME respondents either currently use IFRSs or would consider adopting the IFRS for SMEs in the near term, while 63% would adopt when required.
