Australian SME Readiness to adopt AIFRS

In July 2002, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC)
announced that the Australian Accounting Standards
Board (AASB) would fully adopt Australian
equivalents to International Financial Reporting
Standards (AIFRS) from 1 January 2005. This would
affect all reporting entities, including listed and
unlisted entities, both private and public. This
research investigates the impact of AIFRS on SMEs in
2005/06, specifically the factors affecting their
readiness to adopt AIFRS, including: (1) the
translation plan of and obstacles to adoption, (2)
communication with stakeholders, (3) amount of
resources required, (4) AIFRS information sources,
(5) potential impacts of AIFRS on SMEs, (6) overall
readiness, and (7) the advantages and disadvantages
of AIFRS to SMEs. Furthermore perspectives were
provided by two professional accounting bodies.
Results through a web based survey indicate that
several SMEs were not ready to adopt AIFRS due to an
underestimation of their complexity, lack of
perceived benefits and the time and resource
constraints involved. The study concludes that
regulators are justified in re-considering the
requirements of AIFRS in relation to SME''s.

Autorentext
Shu Wing Yip,was an accounting honours student in 2005 at Macquarie University.Dr.Lorne Cummings, BBus Deakin, GradDipAcctg ANU, MCom ANU, PhD Macquarie, FCPA, CA, CMA is an Associate Professor at Macquarie University.Dr.Elaine Evans, BBus NSWIT, MCom ANU, MEd Sydney, DipEd STC, PhD UNSW, FCPA is an Associate Professor at Macquarie University.

Klappentext
In July 2002, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) announced that the Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) would fully adopt Australian equivalents to International Financial Reporting Standards (AIFRS) from 1 January 2005. This would affect all reporting entities, including listed and unlisted entities, both private and public. This research investigates the impact of AIFRS on SMEs in 2005/06, specifically the factors affecting their readiness to adopt AIFRS, including: (1) the translation plan of and obstacles to adoption, (2) communication with stakeholders, (3) amount of resources required, (4) AIFRS information sources, (5) potential impacts of AIFRS on SMEs, (6) overall readiness, and (7) the advantages and disadvantages of AIFRS to SMEs. Furthermore perspectives were provided by two professional accounting bodies. Results through a web based survey indicate that several SMEs were not ready to adopt AIFRS due to an underestimation of their complexity, lack of perceived benefits and the time and resource constraints involved. The study concludes that regulators are justified in re-considering the requirements of AIFRS in relation to SME's.