Ten Years of IFRS: Reflections and Expectations

The adoption of international financial reporting standards (IFRS) has been described as a ‘watershed’ (Cairns 2003) and a ‘revolution’ in financial reporting (KPMG 2006). This forum marks the 10th anniversary of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), with seven papers exploring the impact of IFRS on standard setting, financial reporting practice and accounting education from the perspectives of standard setters, practitioners and academics. The forum appears in two parts: in the September and December 2012 issues. The first part of the forum, in the September issue, included a set of papers that reflected on the IASB's activities over the past 10 years, the relationship of the IASB with national standard setters, and two papers that provided background and insights into the important question of if, and how, the United States (US) may adopt IFRS. Authors included IASB board member Paul Pacter, former IASB staff member Jessica Lyon, former IASB board member Warren McGregor, Chairman of the Australian Accounting Standards Board Kevin Stevenson, a New York partner with KPMG, Holger Erchinger, and US academic Donna Street. The second part of the forum, contained in this issue, complements the first part by exploring practitioners’ reflections on the impact of IFRS together with suggestions for future research; IFRS educational issues and initiatives; and adoption of IFRS in a developing economy. The first paper, written by Philip Brown and Ann Tarca, aims to link the findings of IFRS academic research with feedback from practitioners about whether the hoped-for benefits of adopting IFRS are being realised. It also presents comments from practitioners about IFRS research and identifies areas that may be usefully explored in future research. The second paper, by Beverley Jackling, Bryan Howieson and Riccardo Natoli, considers the challenges educators face in their teaching following adoption of IFRS. They discuss IFRS education in Australia, the US and Romania. The authors conclude that teaching resources, educational research and Continuing Professional Development activities related to a principles-based approach to teaching IFRS are necessary for educators to enrich the learning experience of students. The third and final paper in the forum is by Nadia Albu and Cătălin Nicolae Albu who discuss the adoption of IFRS in an emerging economy, Romania. They illustrate the effect of various contextual factors, some historical, on the process and outcomes of IFRS implementation. They conclude that adoption of IFRS can follow a different pattern in emerging economies compared to developed economies. We commend the forum papers to you and hope you find them interesting and informative. We trust that practitioners, academics and students will enjoy and benefit from the wisdom shared by our writers.