This 88-page guide to the IFRS for SMEs is similar to Deloitte's very popular IFRSs in your Pocket guide to full IFRSs. This pocket guide is based on an international version* produced by Deloitte's IFRS Global Office. IFRS for SMEs in your Pocket takes each section of the IFRS for SMEs, summarises its requirements, and highlights differences with full IFRS requirements. Additional guidance describing application of the IFRS for SMEs in the UK is added in shaded text. The IFRS for SMEs is particularly relevant in the United Kingdom because the Accounting Standards Board (ASB) has proposed that the IFRS for SMEs should replace UK Financial Reporting Standards. Specifically, the ASB has proposed a three-tier approach to developing UK GAAP converged with IFRSs as follows:

• Tier 1 – publicly accountable entities would apply IFRSs as adopted by the EU.
• Tier 2 – all other UK entities, except those that elect to apply the Financial Reporting Standard for Smaller Entities (FRSSE), would apply the IFRS for SMEs.
• Tier 3 – small entities could choose to continue to apply the FRSSE if they do not exceed two or more of the following criteria: turnover £6,500,000; balance sheet total £3,260,000; and average number of employees 50.

Entities in Tier 2 and Tier 3 would have the option of using EU-adopted IFRSs if they wished, and those in Tier 3 would have the option of using the IFRS for SMEs.

*Not yet available on IAS Plus. We expect to post it shortly.

Click to view IFRS for SMEs in your Pocket (PDF 273k).