New York -The American Institute of CPAs has introduced a new course of study leading to a Certificate of Educational Achievement in International Financial Reporting Standards, allowing accountants to demonstrate IFRS competency to employers, firms and clients.
The new IFRS Certificate Program is a comprehensive, integrated curriculum of online courses for CPAs and other accounting professionals that provide a measurable standard for evaluating competence in understanding and applying international accounting standards.
"It's more than just training," explained Mike Ramos, director of CPE and training for the AICPA. "These courses are case-study-driven, a fully immersed learning experience. It's going from recall from what you learned to being able to apply what you've learned."
The AICPA said that it supports the goal of one set of high-quality, globally accepted accounting standards and has been promoting a smooth transition from U.S. GAAP to IFRS for public companies.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is currently undertaking a one-year "work plan" to analyze how IFRS should best be incorporated into U.S. financial reporting. Since 2008, the AICPA has been working to prepare American CPAs, both in business and industry and in accounting firms, for possible use of IFRS for public companies as soon as 2015 or 2016. The SEC is supposed to decide later this year on whether to proceed with accepting IFRS sometime in the next few years.
The institute's IFRS Certificate Program is an integrated curriculum of 25 online, on-demand self-study training courses. CPAs, chartered accountants or the equivalent who successfully complete all of the courses in the curriculum would receive a Certificate of Educational Achievement, and approximately 42 hours of continuing education credit for CPAs.
The cost to complete the entire program of approximately 42 CPE credits is $1,195 for AICPA members and $1,695 for non-members. Online registration and frequently asked questions are available at www.ifrs.com/certificate.
