Financial Reporting- IAS in 2005

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This graphic depicts two significant processes impacting on international financial reporting.Firstly,from 1 January 2005 7000 Listed Companies in the EU will be obliged to report their Financial Statements in accordance with International Accounting Standards( IAS). Secondly, significant efforts are being made at the moment to converge the rules under IAS with US GAAP (the US standard for US listed Companies). This graphic shows the roads representing EU Member States and the new Eastern European States joining in 2005 under IAS. It also shows the truck representing the EU Member States ahead of the Eastern European countries, representing there more developed financial reporting standards. The road representing US GAAP is also shown converging into IAS. The truck on the US road is ahead of the other trucks as the exacting rules under US GAAP are more closely alligned to IAS than some of the reporting standards in individual EU Member States.