The question for many boards is: how well do they 'speak' the new financial lingua franca? Mastering IFRS, just like learning a new language, poses a number of challenges:

• Does the board understand all of IFRS' subtleties? Board members may understand the individual 'words' and concepts but still not interpret them as intended.
• Is the board practicing the new language? Directors may study the new standards but if they continue applying the old financial reporting standards while believing that all accounting frameworks are similar, their transition to IFRS will not become a reality.
• Are we making IFRS easier to apply by making greater use of them? When everybody – the board, management and other stakeholders – all 'talk' in terms of the new standards, their application will be quicker and more effective.
• Do we think directly in terms of IFRS or just how they differ from the old standards? Shifting conversations to focus solely on IFRS forces people to leave their comfort zones, but it may also make for a much more efficient transition.

We would also like to highlight the fact that in our view the Exposure Draft suggests a lack of rigor taken by the Board in preparing the original consequential amendments to IFRSs made necessary by the amendment to IFRS 7 issued in March 2009. We continue to be concerned that the combined effect of ambitious deadlines, shortened periods for comments and deliberations, as well as the heavy workload on the Board's agenda means that this and potentially other consequential amendments fail to be identified at the appropriate time, resulting in precious Board time being spent fixing problems that could have been identified had greater attention to such matters been paid originally.

"examples or case studies of transactions or situations specific to your jurisdiction that would make the fair value measurement guidance as proposed in the exposure draft unpractical. After reviewing the input we receive, the Board will consider either (a) amending the proposals in the exposure draft for the final IFRS if they are found to be inadequate in some situations or (b) publishing educational material to address the practical application of the fair value measurement principles (or a combination of both). This educational material would seek to address the concerns that we have identified through our outreach activities and how they relate to the fair value measurement guidance in the forthcoming IFRS."