United Nations works to develop accounting for SMEs.

• Author: Morris, David
• Position: Small and medium sized enterprises

On May 15-16, this author attended a meeting of the Consultative Group on Accounting by Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Geneva. This 15-person group was drawn from the members of the Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting (ISAR) of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). FEI is a participating member of ISAR.

The purpose of this meeting was to discuss the International Accounting Standards Board's Exposure Draft, A Proposed International Financial Reporting Standard for Small and Medium-sized Entities.

At the 24th session of ISAR held in October 2007, the conclusion had been reached that the IASB ED would not meet the accounting and reporting needs of smaller enterprises in developing countries and countries with economies in transition. Thus, a consultative group was formed and requested to update the previous UNCTAD guidance entitled, Accounting and Financial Reporting Guidelines for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEGA)--Level 3, issued in 2003.

At last year's meeting, ISAR also agreed to recommend to all countries that public enterprises should follow the body of IFRS issued by IASB. Large- and medium-sized private enterprises would likely follow the guidance being developed by IASB in its project on accounting for small- and medium-sized enterprises. This would likely mean that SMEGA -- Level 2 would need to be revised or replaced in the future.

However, finalization of this view would need to wait until IASB completed its project. For smaller enterprises, it was generally felt that the IASB ED was still much too complex for their use.

Thus, the consultative group was instructed to develop a more simplified accounting and reporting model for consideration at the 25th session of ISAR in November.

This...