TABLE OF CONTENTS The study, and adoption, of new standards, like IFRS, which present a phase-shift from long-established thinking, policies, and procedures, calls for a most significant intellectual effort. This is true with nearly all modern business practices, from globalization to technology, which require that more intellectual effort is organized around the problem to be solved, rather than at the side of traditional functions such as production, marketing, lending or administration.
The implementation of IFRS calls for a well-organized project with budget, timetable, quality of deliverables, and follow-up. From planning to execution, this effort requires project management principles, including the making of design reviews. This is the subject of the present chapter, which aims to present the reader with:
Critical issues confronting an important project
Specific references to the application of IFRS, and
Approaches to a successful implementation process and its control.
Starting with the fundamentals, the first crucial question concerning any important problem is: 'What's the problem?' With IFRS, the salient problem is the phase shift from accounting methods based on accruals, which have become almost a second nature, to new accounting principles with which most accountants have no experience. Fair value is an example.
Once this issue of change of standards is overcome, the next salient problem comes up: 'What's the aimed at solution to the problem?' The answer is more realistic pricing of assets and liabilities,...
