International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)

CAAA members have free access to electronic International Financial Reporting Standards (eIFRS)

Regular members of the Canadian Academic Accounting Association (CAAA) now have free access to an online database of electronic International Financial Reporting Standards (eIFRS) under a sponsorship agreement funded by Canada’s Chartered Accountants. (This free access is offered to all regular members of the CAAA. It is not available to student members.)

The agreement with the International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation went into effect February 1, 2008 and gives CAAA members full access to all materials developed– and being developed – by the International Accounting Standards Board as part of the transition to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

The sponsorship by Canada’s Chartered Accountants allows CAAA members to keep completely up-to-date with International Financial Reporting Standards including International Accounting Standards, Interpretations and any revisions as they become available.

“This will be an invaluable tool for CAAA members, enabling them develop a solid understanding of the new standards that Canada will adopt in preparation for their teaching of IFRS,” said Tim Forristal, M. Math, CA, Vice President, Education, Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants.

“This initiative is part of the CICA’s commitment to leadership in helping the profession prepare for a smooth transition to international standards and in responding to the needs of the academic community for information and resources on the IFRS.”

The CAAA wishes to thank Canada’s Chartered Accountants for sponsoring this important initiative allowing its regular members free access to eIFRS.

Click here to login at the Members Only section of the website to access eIFRS.

May 2009

Accounting Standards Board publishes IFRS bulletin

The Accounting Standards Board (AcSB) has published the bulletin Changeover to IFRSs: January 1, 2011.

September 2008

Chartered Accountants of Canada providing IFRS teaching supplements for academic use

The Chartered Accountants of Canada are providing accounting academics IFRS teaching supplements for all Canadian university and college courses in introductory, intermediate and advanced accounting. These will be provided free of charge.

Filling the GAAP to IFRS: Teaching Supplements for Canada’s Academics will consist of a series of three CD ROMS containing teaching supplements and supporting documents that provide supplemental IFRS-specific teaching materials for introductory, intermediate and advanced level accounting courses in Canadian universities and colleges. These supplemental materials are carefully focused on the impact of IFRS on the topics covered by accounting text books at each level. The three CDs are:

1. Teaching supplement for Introductory and Intermediate Accounting Courses: Introductory and Intermediate accounting are offered as two separate courses in Canadian universities and colleges and are taken by a wide variety of business students. The division between the two courses can, however, vary greatly from program to program. This is why we have combined the introductory and intermediate materials into a single supplement package. This teaching supplement package, which identifies and explores at a basic level the impact on IFRS on financial reporting, allows you to customize the material to your particular program.

2. Teaching Supplement for Advanced Accounting Courses: Advanced Accounting is taken almost exclusively by students intending to pursue careers as CAs or other accountants. This supplement explores more complex issues that will arise from the implementation of IFRS in greater depth.

3. IFRS Question and Answer Pack: For security and ease of use, we provide Questions and Answers for you to use with your students on a separate CD. They are provided in a Word format, and designed so that you can edit them, and print them out for use as handouts and assignments, either in their current format, or as you choose to adapt them.

Filling the GAAP to IFRS is being developed by the Chartered Accountants of Canada with a specialized team of IFRS professionals from Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers plus accounting academics. They are intended to provide teaching support for the next two years, as IFRS materials are fully integrated into all accounting text books. The supplements are intended to bridge the current gap in information and help ensure academics have quality information and tools they need to effectively teach accounting and business students about IFRS.

To get your copy:

The teaching supplements will be available for download from the Chartered Accountants of Canada’s dedicated IFRS website at www.cica.ca/IFRS in beginning in September 2008. CD_ROMs will be sent directly to Canadian Accounting Academics through their colleges and universities, beginning with Introductory and Intermediate Accounting, in early September. If you do not receive a copy of the first CD by Oct. 1, contact your provincial institute of chartered accountants.

This fall, the Chartered Accountants of Canada will also be making the following resources available:

IFRS-compliant UFE Questions and Solutions – The Chartered Accountants of Canada, in conjunction with academic and professional experts in IFRS, are updating selected UFE questions and solutions from 1996 to 2006 from an IFRS perspective. These will be made available to university and college accounting academics for classroom use.
Implementing IFRS in Canada – Learning from companies applying IFRS – The CICA is publishing this book of approximately 1,000 pages to provide practical explanations and illustrations of IFRS application from a Canadian perspective. Using extracts from the financial statements of companies in other countries that have already adopted IFRS, it will examine how presentation and disclosures might differ from Canadian GAAP. The book will be available for sale in English and French.
International Financial Reporting Standards: -- The Chartered Accountants of Canada sponsored three customized presentations on preparing for IFRS at the CAAA Conference in June 2008. Recorded versions of these presentations will be available in the fall of 2008 at www.cica.ca/IFRS.

Until then, you can access these current resources:

The CICA’s Guide to IFRS in Canada – a quick reference guide to upcoming changes, including a comparison of the CICA Handbook standards at March 31, 2007, with comparable IFRS standards. The guide can be downloaded from www.cica.ca/IFRS.

Free access to eIFRS for full CAAA members, sponsored by the Chartered Accountants of Canada. CAAA members should contact the CAAA. This offer is not available to student members.

In addition, you can access a full range of courses and conferences at the Chartered Accountants of Canada’s dedicated IFRS website at: www.cica.ca/IFRS.