40% of U.S. Senior Financial Executives Don’t Want IFRS to Replace GAAP

61% Not Familiar with FASB Financial Statement Presentation

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In a national survey of U.S. CFOs and senior comptrollers conducted by Grant Thornton LLP, the U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton International Ltd, 40 percent said that they do not believe that U.S. companies should ever have to use International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), while another 39 percent said that U.S. companies should start using IFRS in 3 to 5 years. Only 7 percent want to start using it immediately.

“beneficial but the benefits to the users of our financial statements would not justify the costs of implementing the proposed format”

Regarding actual IFRS usage, 90 percent of companies report that they do not prepare financial statements according to IFRS – only 15 percent of public companies said that they do and only 8 percent of private ones do.

Less than two in five CFOs (39%) are familiar with the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (FASB) project on financial statement presentation; and the majority of those that are say that it is either “beneficial but the benefits to the users of our financial statements would not justify the costs of implementing the proposed format” (49%) or that it “would not be beneficial to the users of our financial statements” (30%).

Does your firm prepare financial statements according to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)?

	All	Public	Private
Yes	10%	15%	8%
No	90%	85%	92%

When do you believe the U.S. companies should be required to use IFRS?

	All	Public	Private
Immediately	7%	10%	5%
In 3 to 5 years	39%	40%	39%
In 5 years or longer	14%	18%	13%
Never, U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) is fine	40%	32%	42%

Should there be different recognition and measurements principles for public entities and nonpublic entities?

	All	Public	Private
Yes	51%	39%	56%
No	41%	54%	37%
Don’t know	8%	7%	7%

Should nonpublic entities be allowed to use simpler recognition and measurement principles when preparing financial statements?

	All	Public	Private
Yes	60%	42%	66%
No	34%	51%	29%
Don’t know	6%	7%	5%

Should nonpublic entities in the U.S. be allowed to use IFRS for SMEs when preparing financial statements?

	All	Public	Private
Yes	52%	44%	55%
No	20%	32%	17%
Don’t know	29%	25%	28%

Are you familiar with the FASB’s project on financial statement presentation?

Yes	39%
No	61%

If yes, which of the following statements best describes your impression of the project?

The proposed format would be beneficial, but the benefits to the users of our financial statements would not justify the costs of implementing the proposed format.	49%
The proposed format would not be beneficial to the users of our financial statements.	30%
The proposed format would better meet the needs of the users of our financial statements.	21%

About the Survey

Grant Thornton LLP conducted the biannual national survey from Sept. 21 through Oct. 2, 2009, with 846 U.S. CFOs and senior comptrollers participating. For more information about the survey, please go to www.GrantThornton.com/cfosurvey.

About Grant Thornton LLP

The people in the independent firms of Grant Thornton International Ltd provide personalized attention and the highest quality service to public and private clients in more than 100 countries. Grant Thornton LLP is the U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton International Ltd, one of the six global audit, tax and advisory organizations. Grant Thornton International Ltd and its member firms are not a worldwide partnership, as each member firm is a separate and distinct legal entity.

In the U.S., visit Grant Thornton LLP at www.GrantThornton.com.