IFRS is in news again. This time it isn’t in context of the convergence project. It is for wrong accounting in their books! How can an international accounting standard setter have their accounting messed up? Well they did!
The issue it turns out is that the standard setting body failed to pay the correct income tax and national insurance contributions. IFRS is being investigated by HM Revenue & Customs since May 2011. IFRS in turn has set aside £460,000 in anticipation of a settlement with HMRC. Per the accounts of IFRS, they have already paid £24,000 to HMRC.
The timing couldn’t have been worse for IFRS. Lately there is intense scrutiny of tax arrangements of international companies and organizations. Also there is a big question mark on the state of the convergence project with the SEC backing off on having one global accounting standard.
It is definitely not a good place for IFRS. This shows everyone makes a mistake!
