The accountancy profession faces a huge challenge if all listed companies are to move to an international accounting standard by 2005, the chairman of the Accounting Standards Board (ASB) has said.
Ms Mary Keegan said the deadline for the move was very short, particularly given the amount of work that needed to be done to agree an international standard of the best quality.
However, the change should be somewhat easier in Britain and the Republic where existing rules were already closer to international standards than elsewhere in Europe and in the United States.
"It will be easier in Ireland and the UK but even then it's going to be extremely hard work," she said.
The ASB, which sets the standards for the profession both here and in Britain, aims to ease the transition process by gradually introducing changes as they are agreed. The first step in that process will be taken next week when it will publish six proposals, based on newly revised international standards, with a view to implementing them next year.
Among the areas of accounting which will be affected are related party disclosures, treatment of earnings per share and events that occur after the balance sheet date.
However, a considerable number of areas remain to be ironed out before an international standard is complete including accounting for financial instruments such as derivatives and the standards for consolidation, said Ms Keegan.
The ASB is also keen to start a debate on the treatment of pensions, particularly given the changes that are due to follow the planned introduction of FRS17.
The controversial accounting standard, which is being introduced gradually, demands greater disclosure from companies, forcing them to take defined benefit pension schemes onto the balance sheet. "We don't want to have to change twice if we can avoid it," Ms Keegan said.
However, she is hopeful that FRS17, which she describes as "a good standard", becomes adopted as the international norm. "It would be a disappointment to me if the international board doesn't see the benefits of FRS17," she said. "But it would be better to have certainty, even if we lose. I don't think we will though."
