U.S. companies unprepared for IFRS compliance experts warn

UNIT4 Business Software provides toolkit for companies to evaluate IFRS-readiness of their ERP and financial systems

VICTORIA, April 29 /PRNewswire/ - UNIT4 Business Software (www.unit4software.com), a top-six enterprise resource planning (ERP) software company, has released a suite of simple tools to help companies in the United States assess their readiness-level for the move to new International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) - a transition that could take several years. The tools include a whitepaper explaining the impact IFRS will have on ERP systems, an easy-to use IFRS Health Check companies can use to gauge how prepared they are and an IFRS Buyer's Guide to evaluate an ERP vendor's ability to manage the change to IFRS. All three tools are available from UNIT4 Business Software's website free of charge.

The countdown to IFRS adoption is well underway; by as early as 2015 in the United States, publicly traded and many other companies will have to report their financial statements following IFRS, which was developed by the International Accounting Standards Board. While IFRS transition may already be a major preoccupation for chief financial officers, CIOs and CTOs need to act promptly to assess the impact of this transition; the switch will touch processes and systems across organizations, and preparing for the transition could take several years.

UNIT4 Business Software's white paper, "The challenges facing companies migrating from U.S. GAAP to IFRS" (www.unit4software.com/solutions/IFRS) offers a detailed report on how the company's software helps users navigate the new reporting requirements. Having successfully navigated the transition to IFRS in other markets and recognized common challenges, UNIT4 Business Software is in a strong position to educate the North American market about the process and how best to manage the change from a technology perspective.

UNIT4 Business Software's IFRS Health Check (www.unit4software.com/IFRS-HealthCheck) and IFRS Buyer's Guide (www.unit4software.com/solutions/IFRS) are simple, straightforward resources that provide organizations with a high-level snapshot of their own IFRS-readiness and help them determine what preparations they still need to make. The Health Check tool is self-completed and puts IT executives in a much better position to determine their needs and, with the help of the Buyer's Guide, allows them to make responsible purchasing decisions.

Studies show that American companies are both ill-prepared and unrealistic about what the shift will mean for their information systems, and experts are cautioning that preparation is essential in order to avoid incurring significant unnecessary costs.

In a December 2009 report, "IFRS Perspectives: An executive survey," international accounting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said, "Technology is a key enabler in the transition to IFRS ... Forward-looking companies are taking steps now to gain an understanding of how well their existing systems can support IFRS compliance and what changes are needed."

On its web site, PwC's warnings are clear. "We cannot stress enough the importance of an appropriate level of awareness and preparedness. In our experiences with IFRS conversions elsewhere in the world, many companies failed to adequately plan and were therefore forced to conduct last-minute transitions, which increased conversion costs and left opportunities on the table. Through adequate advance planning, U.S. companies can avoid those risks."

About IFRS

For more than 30 years, the International Accounting Standards Board has been working toward creating a universal reporting protocol for publicly traded companies, with a goal of making financial reports comparable regardless of the country of origin, ultimately fostering the free flow of funds between capital markets across the globe. This ambitious project has already seen adoption of the standard in many world markets, with notable exceptions being the U.S. and Canada. But North America will soon join the ranks of countries worldwide using financial language that facilitates easy comparison of financial statements by global investors.

About UNIT4 Business Software

UNIT4 Business Software in North America (www.unit4software.com) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of UNIT4, a $517 million enterprise resource planning (ERP) company and a top six mid-market ERP software player globally. Agresso Business World is widely acknowledged as the business software solution that delivers the lowest Total Cost of Change. This is achieved thanks to its VITA(TM) architecture which allows for an unlimited amount of ongoing, post-implementation changes without the typical external IT costs and intervention that nets billions of dollars in revenue to the market leaders.

Over 3,000 companies and organizations in 100 countries deploy Agresso Business World for both operational support and strategic management. The company's role-based, Web Services and Services-Oriented Architecture (SOA) enabled solutions include: Financial Management, Human Resources and Payroll, Procurement Management, Project Costing and Billing, Reporting and Analytics, Business Process Automation, and Field Services and Asset Maintenance.

The names of actual companies or products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. Agresso, Agresso Business World, BLINC, and VITA are registered trademarks of UNIT4 Business Software.

SOURCE Agresso