International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)

The use of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) will be required in 2011 for Canadian enterprises including public companies and other profit-orientated enterprises responsible to large or diverse groups of shareholders.

International Financial Reporting Standards are a series of standards and interpretations that have been adopted by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). Many of these standards that form FRS are known by the older name of International Accounting Standards (IAS) that were issued between 1973 and 2001 by the board of the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC).

International Financial Reporting Standards comprise:

- International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) - standards issued after 2001
- International Accounting Standards (IAS) - standards issued before 2001
- Interpretations originated from the International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) - issued after 2001
- Standing Interpretations Committee (SIC) - issued before 2001

There is also a Framework for the Preparation and Presentation of Financial Statements which describes some of the principles underlying IFRS. The objective of financial statements is to provide information about the financial position, performance and changes in an enterprise, useful to a wide range of users in making economic decisions and to provide the current financial status of the entity to its shareholders and the general public.

For more information, see the IAS web site at http://www.iasb.org