Businesses compete for their market. And with the many companies that come out these days, the competition even gets tougher. Companies and businesses therefore have to strengthen their strategies and do everything in order to attract their prospective clients.

This is one of the many reasons why the leaders of the accounting profession have come to a decision to implement the International Financial Reporting Standards or IFRS by January 2012. The IFRS is part of their goal for change. However, the problem seen is how they will get to that goal.

“It's not a question of where we should go but of how [we should get there] and at what pace," said Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Shatalov.

The IFRS is seen to allow accounting professionals to participate in the formation of a global financial system.

However, the biggest problem seen here is that even if there are only several months remaining before the implementation of the IFRS, there is still no Russian translation considering that the target capital is Moscow.

“There is need for official guidance, official policy and official understanding for the public," said Kirill Altukhov, a partner at audit and advisory firm KPMG in Russia and the CIS.

Furthermore, the impact of the mandatory implementation of the IFRS will only be beneficial to the minority publicly listed companies. All of which have already started using the new system.

On the other hand, Surgutneftegas, has submitted recently its accounts under US generally accepted accounting principles of 2001. Its value has reached $33.6 billion. However, the company has not yet been publicly listed. And that is the problem seen now with the implementation of the IFRS.

Another obstacle to the implementation of the IFRS is the lack of trained professionals. Professors and teachers are also having arguments on the issue.

Despite the benefit of implementing the IFRS, the problems have to be settled first before moving on to the next stage.

News Source: The Moscow Times