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PrintSo you still thought IFRS was boring? Think again!
On 22nd October, following our successful meeting on October14th, another 50 delegates representing Central Government, Health and Local Government sectors, from CIPFA were joined by CIMA Central Government Branch and other colleagues in an interactive and informative session on the main aspects of the new International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) not covered in the earlier session. This session centered on Operating Segments, Tangible and Intangible Assets, the Primary Financial Statements and Accounting Policy. .Christina Earls and Nigel Keogh, representing CIPFA South East Region and the CIPFA Central Government Panel, who arranged the session jointly with the CIMA Central Government Branch, hosted the evening, which was led by Mike Simpson and Harriet Aldridge, from PWC. They took it in turns to inform the session over the 90 minutes in what resulted in a lively and enjoyable session.
Harriet commenced the session reminding the audience why IFRS was being introduced to the public sector, namely to improve consistency and comparability as well as follow private sector best practice. She identified some of the key differences in the new standards bring compared to UKGAAP, including the accounting treatments for PFI, leases, financial instruments and segmental reporting, which she went into in more detail later in the session. She identified the practical implications of IFRS being on processes, systems as well as people and that the implementation of this massive change can be dealt with using project disciples and in a phased approach, commencing with a planning phase followed by the delivery phase and completing the transition by integrating any changes into the “business as usual” arena of the organization.
Harriet continued in identifying that implementing IFRS8, or Segmental Reporting, can be complex for an organization. Whilst Central Government Departments are not included, and it has yet to be decided how local authorities will be impacted, there are many organizations that will be needing to consider the need to report segmentally, such as NHS bodies, NDPBs and Agencies.
Mike then took over on the subject of tangible and intangible assets. He covered the complex area of valuation, and whilst it is still to be determined by CIPFA how local authorities will treat valuations, he covered off the current treatment in Central Government and Health. Mike also discussed borrowing costs and impairment followed by the issue of software under intangible assets.
Mike wrapped up the session with a guide to some very technical differences between UKGAAP and IFRS between components of Financial Statements for each of the areas of the public sector, changes in accounting policies, employee benefits and defined benefits schemes. There was clearly a lot that we, as accountants, were going to need to be aware of and be comfortable with.
Due to the questions and answers that had taken place throughout the session, we did not have time at the end for more, and John Barker from CIPFA South East Regional Committee provided a vote of thanks for this and the previous 90 minute session on 14th October. He thanked both CIPFA for providing the venue and to Harriet and Mike for their sessions, and to Steve Clark from PWC for provided such knowledgeable speakers for these two successful events. Christina then wrapped up the session with a final thanks to the audience for sharing their experiences and joining in, making the event so enjoyable and interesting. She was also able to announce the third event in the mini series, to take place on 6th November, which will look in more general at improving Financial Reporting.
Click on the image below to download the presentation slides:
Christina Earls
28/10/08