The report, by Protiviti Inc, a global business consulting and internal audit firm, has highlighted the following findings:

• 48% of the respondents reported that their organizations have made no preparations to date to adopt IFRS.
• More than 40% said that if the SEC allows a choice between using US GAAP and IFRS, their organizations would choose to switch to IFRS.
• Most companies don't have a Project Management Office presently assigned to lead the transition.
• More than 60% of respondents said they anticipate at least a moderate cost impact in transitioning to IFRS.

The participants also were asked to cite the greatest barrier to the transition to IFRS:

• CFO responses included cost, educating financial statement readers, learning new standards and setting up initial reporting formats.
• CAEs saw introducing cultural change and implementing information technology change management processes as barriers. This group also noted the need to understand the differences between US GAAP and IFRS and to educate the company on those differences.
• Internal audit managers believed coordination with international operating units and updates to financial systems would be difficult in the transition period.

The SEC voted in August to publish for public comment a proposed Roadmap that could lead to the use of IFRS by US issuers beginning in 2014.

Under the proposal, the Commission would make a decision in 2011 on whether adoption of IFRS is in the public interest and would benefit investors. The proposed multi-year plan set out several milestones that, if achieved, could lead to the use of IFRS by US issuers in their filings with the Commission.

Currently, US issuers use US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP). But the increasing integration of the world's capital markets, which has resulted in two-thirds of US investors owning securities issued by foreign companies that report their financial information using IFRS, has made the establishment of a single set of high quality accounting standards a matter of growing importance.

A common accounting language around the world could give investors greater comparability and greater confidence in the transparency of financial reporting worldwide.

"An international language of disclosure and transparency is a goal worth pursuing on behalf of investors who seek comparable financial information to make well-informed investment decisions," announced SEC Chairman Christopher Cox, adding:

"The increasing worldwide acceptance of financial reporting using IFRS, and US investors' increasing ownership of securities issued by foreign companies that report financial information using IFRS, have led the Commission to propose this cautious and careful plan. Clearly setting out the SEC's direction well in advance, as well as the conditions that must be met, will help fulfil our mission of protecting investors and facilitating capital formation."

Today, more than 100 countries around the world, including all of Europe, currently require or permit IFRS reporting. Approximately 85 of those countries require IFRS reporting for all domestic, listed companies.