IFRS vs. GAAP: Comparing and Contrasting Financial Statement Requirements

Identifying Key Balance Sheet, Income Statement, and Disclosure Differences

Recording of a 110-minute CPE video webinar with Q&A

Conducted on Tuesday, March 2, 2021

Recorded event now available

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Program Materials

This webinar will compare and contrast significant reporting differences in financial statements issued using generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) versus International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for accountants preparing financial statements under either or both standards.

Description

Over 110 countries submit financial statements using IFRS, while entities in the United States predominantly apply U.S. GAAP. There are similarities and substantial differences between these reporting methods. Both IFRS and GAAP permit FIFO and weighted average inventory. However, only GAAP allows LIFO, which results in significantly different cost of sales and inventory amounts. GAAP requires reporting fixed assets at historical costs, while IFRS allows revaluation of these assets resulting in considerably different depreciation and asset costs. These differences alone can substantially alter the financial results reported.

IFRS 1, First-Time Adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards, provides guidelines for preparing a company's first IFRS-based financial statements. This is a challenging process that requires applying IFRS principles retroactively, with few exceptions. There are many unique disclosure requirements for the initial IFRS statements as well.

Preparing compliant financial statements under two sets of guidelines is a complex process for practitioners who must thoroughly understand IFRS and GAAP reporting requirements. U.S. multinational investors, cross-border companies, and anyone wanting to be able to interpret non-U.S. financial statements need to be able to compare these financial statements as well.

Listen as our panel of international reporting experts identifies key balance sheet, income statement, and disclosure differences in U.S. GAAP and IFRS to enable CPAs to comply with these standards and allow multinational investors to analyze financial statements better.

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Outline

  1. Converting from U.S. GAAP to IFRS and vice versa
  2. Key differences in the balance sheet accounts
  3. Key differences in the income statement accounts
  4. Specific transaction-related differences
  5. Unique reporting and disclosure considerations

Benefits

The panel will review these and other key issues:

  • Specific countries adopting and not adopting IFRS
  • Differences between IFRS and GAAP reporting of combinations and mergers
  • A comparison of reporting hedge and derivatives under IFRS vs. GAAP
  • First-time IFRS adoption requirements under IFRS 1
  • Reporting intangible assets under IFRS

Faculty

Endy-Tara
Tara Endy
Director
BDO USA

Ms. Endy has over 20 years of experience in accounting, auditing, and financial reporting. She assists clients with...  |  Read More

Ortego, Justin
Justin Ortego
Managing Director
BDO USA

Mr. Ortego serves as a managing director for BDO’s Accounting & Reporting Advisory Services group...  |  Read More

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