IFRS Ready

The globalization of business and finance has led to the successful mass adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by over 12,000 companies in over 100 countries. Whether or not, as individuals, each of us support the concepts of ultimately attaining use of a single set of high quality accounting standards globally or the possibility of moving to use these standards in the United States, IFRS is in use in most capital markets around the world. IFRS already significantly impacts U.S. companies because it:

  • Influences the direction of convergence,
  • Is used by foreign subsidiaries of U.S. companies,
  • Stimulates questions from investors comparing U.S. companies to foreign competitors, and
  • Influences the transaction structuring by foreign counterparties (customers, vendors, and capital providers) who report under IFRS.

Beginning to prepare accounting students for this new environment will be important to their long term professional success without regard to whether the US, itself, adopts the standards. PricewaterhouseCoopers seeks to assist faculty who choose to introduce IFRS in the curriculum.

Because IFRS is new content for students, professors and business schools, PwC is providing learning opportunities for use by students and faculty. Through PwC's IFRS Ready program

  • Students have direct access through our student website to IFRS learning opportunities including video content and financial statements. These materials are suitable for self-study or can be incorporated into your courses and include three components: 1) Three videos entitled "Why?", "What?" and "How?" designed to introduce IFRS; 2) Learning blocks highlighting a new associate ( Michael Connolly) and his experience with an IFRS engagement; and 3) Interactive financial statements highlighting the differences between IFRS and US GAAP. The following link will take you directly to the page featuring the three videos and will allow you to access the Michael Connolly blocks and the interactive financial statements: Access IFRS Ready Student Materials.
  • Faculty have access to instructional materials (which are not available to students) that may be embedded in existing courses. The instructional materials include teaching notes to supplement the student materials described above for faculty who wish to utilize these items in the classroom. In addition, we have developed presentations with accompanying teaching notes to address the following topics: 1) Introduction to IFRS; 2) Inventory; 3) Revenue Recognition; and 4) Impairments. Our instructional materials are available now on the AAA Commons in the PwC IFRS Hive or through this request link. Faculty submitting a request through this link will receive an email reply with materials attached in pdf files.
  • Faculty will have on-going access to educational and technical resources as they implement our IFRS materials [please send any requests here].

These learning materials have been designed to be interesting, easy to use and efficient. They are flexible enough to support independent study and a variety of curricular strategies.

The PricewaterhouseCoopers Charitable Foundation, Inc. has provided over $1 million to the IFRS Ready grant program. Over 2009 and 2010, these resources provided competitive funding for 38 proposals to support faculty as they build IFRS into their courses. Click here for a list of our grant recipients.

Each year, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP employs several thousand new campus hires and interns. Candidates for these positions are evaluated, in part, on behavioral interviews that focus on specific competencies that are essential to success in the Firm. One of these is acquiring and applying technical and professional skills and knowledge.

Recognizing that some knowledge of IFRS and its impact will help students in the future, PwC will start considering an applicant's awareness level of knowledge starting in Fall, 2009. For example:

  • Sophomores interviewing for summer programs and internships and who have had at least one term of accounting should have a pre-awareness of IFRS by being able to define what IFRS stands for and why it could be important to their future careers.
  • Juniors and above interviewing for internships or full time positions should be able to demonstrate an awareness of IFRS by being able to articulate which global organization establishes IFRS, what an example of a difference between US GAAP and IFRS may be, and generally where it is used in the world. These students may benefit from visiting our website and completing the brief learning tasks we have provided.
PwC is providing materials for faculty to use in their classes; opportunities for candidates to learn independently; and $1 million of funding for curricular change. Building on our long tradition of collaborating with professors, we hope these resources will be useful to faculty who wish to introduce IFRS in the classroom. Working together, we can create an awareness of this new topic area for students.