In 
Sundays were never too hectic for Reema Seth till the last month. For this senior IT manager at one of the leading tin manufacturers, the erstwhile lazy weekend afternoons have all of a sudden been packed with a series of tutorial classes and practical sessions.
She never thought that the last years announcement made by Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), to make International Financial Regulatory Standards (IFRS) mandatory for Indian organisations from FY 2011, will compel IT managers like her to deal with alienated termsasset, liability, equity, revenue and expense, at such fundamental level.
Reema was recently given the additional responsibility of leading the change management team set up to evaluate the technical complexities in transiting from Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) to IFRS.
The context: India has decided to join the pool of 150 countries that are determined to embrace IFRS standards in 2011. Though the decision for a common accounting language will certainly relieve enterprises from filing multiple financial reports and will help them compete better, the process of transformation will see organisations making massive changes in their books and information systems.
Until now, many organisations have had separate procedures for tax, statutory (US and Canadian GAAP), and management reporting. The adoption of IFRS gives them the chance to more closely synchronise these areas.
A structural exercise
The conversion from Indian GAAP to IFRS requires significant efforts. The consequences are far wider than financial reporting issues and extend to various significant business and regulatory matters.
These include compliance with debt covenants, structuring of ESOP schemes, training of employees, modification of IT systems and tax planning, change in new data requirements, charts of accounts, reconfiguration, interface and mapping, consolidation of entities, reporting packs, financial reporting tools and workability of new operating systems compliant for IFRS processes.
The IT implications of conversion to IFRS can be extremely challenging because of the different information systems present within an organisation, says Abhishek Asthana, Director, Piron Operations
The problem is further complicated by the fact that the country has very limited number of IT professionals with thorough understanding of IFRS, and the ability to interpret and translate IFRS requirements into IT changes, he adds.
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