NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants has published an important new resource for U.S. companies, investors and accountants looking at the coming U.S. conversion to a global set of financial reporting standards – IFRS Accounting Trends & Techniques.

IFRS Accounting Trends & Techniques has been written for management, financial statement preparers, investors, analysts, and academics to expand their understanding and awareness of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the accounting policies of different industries around the world that already report using IFRS.

IFRS Accounting Trends & Techniques covers the experience of 100 companies -- including major names like BP, Nokia, Siemens, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, Vodafone, Royal Dutch Shell and Telecom Italia – using IFRS. The companies are based in the UK, The Netherlands, Australia, South Africa, Russia and elsewhere, and issued financial reports prepared in conformity with IFRS.

“It’s helpful for companies to see how their corporate colleagues around the world use IFRS so they have a basis from which to work as they deliberate on the transition to a new form of financial reporting standards,” said Arleen Thomas, AICPA senior vice president for member competency and development.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is weighing a five-year work plan that will lead to conversion of all U.S. public companies to IFRS. This is fueled by global demand from regulators, investors, businesses, and auditing firms for a single set of high-quality accounting standards; demand that is driving increasing worldwide adoption of IFRS and a convergence with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. More than 100 countries now require or allow the use of International Financial Reporting Standards for the preparation of financial statements.

Although Europe is the largest region to have adopted IFRS, major U.S. trading partners such as Japan and India are already moving toward wider adoption of IFRS.

“In writing IFRS Accounting Trends & Techniques, my hope was to use narrative commentary to tackle the complex requirements as companies make the transition to IFRS,” said Patricia Doran Waters, PhD, CFA, the book’s author. “Financial preparers that read this book will have a critical and strategic advantage.”

IFRS Accounting Trends & Techniques was published in January 2010. Over 800 copies of the book have already been sold. For more information or to order a copy, visit www.cpa2biz.com/IFRSTrends.

Additional information on IFRS and the convergence can be found at AICPAs http://www.ifrs.com/. IFRS are set by the International Accounting Standards Board in London.

About the AICPA

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (www.aicpa.org) is the national, professional association of CPAs, with more than 360,000 CPA members in business and industry, public practice, government, education, student affiliates, and international associates. It sets ethical standards for the profession and U.S. auditing standards for audits of private companies, non-profit organizations, federal, state and local governments. It develops and grades the Uniform CPA Examination. The AICPA maintains offices in New York, Washington, D.C., Durham, N.C., Ewing, N.J., and Lewisville, Tex.

Media representatives are invited to visit the AICPA Online Media Center at www.aicpa.org/mediacenter.