Provider services and solutions

Financial performance: Financial reporting

The challenge

Healthcare accounts for the largest share of the US gross domestic product. Yet the financial reporting practices of healthcare companies often lack the framework and sophistication found in other business sectors. Healthcare companies need to do away with antiquated financial reporting practicing and manual, paper-based treasury processes and adopt more advanced methods of documenting and reporting their financial performance.

Financial accounting and reporting standards in the US will soon take a new twist. Currently, healthcare companies—public and private, for-profits and not-for-profits—adhere to generally accepted accounting practices, known as US GAAP. The complex accounting and reporting requirements change frequently. Compliance is difficult and labor-intensive. Matters will get better—and worse—with the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), which become mandatory in 2014. Better because IFRS will increase the sophistication of financial reporting. Worse because converting to IFRS is a daunting undertaking. It entails far more than technical accounting challenges. The change to IFRS will mean widespread changes to your day-to-day operations, new requirements for reporting the economics of your business arrangements and different rules for reporting your profitability. To ease the transition to IFRS, you should consider enabling your internal accounting processes to dual report under both US GAAP and IFRS by 1 January 2012.

How we can help you

To manage costs and avoid unpleasant surprises, you should adopt a thoughtful, measured and strategic approach to transitioning to IFRS. We can assess what IFRS will mean to your organization. We can help you complete the transition to IFRS by:

• Applying an effective, tested methodology
• Improving technical accounting
• Improving business processes throughout your organization
• Enhancing communications and training
• Managing change

The transition to IFRS can benefit your organization by increasing the sophistication of your financial accounting and reporting practices. We can help you focus on knowledge transfer to realize the long-term benefits IFRS can bring to your financial-reporting strategy.

Common services include

• Managing changes to business processes and accounting and reporting practices for a crisis-free transition to IFRS
• Positioning IFRS to maintain long-term benefits to your financial-reporting strategy