The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) London, evolved
and adopted global standards for accounting and financial reporting,
designated as International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) to
serve as a possible pathway for establishing uniform global accounting
standards for the preparation of public company financial statements.
The move to IFRS is being hailed as the most important initiative in
the financial reporting world. It is expected to result in comparability of
financial statements across borders, easier access to foreign capital
markets, low cost of capital to companies and several other benefits.
But, converting to IFRS is not just a technical accounting exercise- it
requires fundamental change on multiple levels, can take up to
several years, and affects virtually every function within an
organisation. This paper discusses the advantages and the
challenges that arise due to adoption of or convergence to IFRS.

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