It may all be too little too late. But the implementation of international financial reporting standards (IFRS) in many parts of the world, and the start of a programme to converge them with US standards, do seem to have concentrated many people's minds.
Recent weeks have seen launches of an extraordinary number of initiatives, visions and round-table meetings, all discussing aspects of essentially the same question - if the technical side of financial reporting is so complex, should companies not provide clearer information for the investment community?
Last month saw the launch of a "vision" from the chief executives of the world's six largest audit networks. It suggested that in an increasingly complex financial reporting environment the users of the information will want more of a say in the process. "Eventually, users may not be as interested in the financial reporting or accounting conventions toward which the world is in the process of now converging. That is because users may not use the traditional financial statements themselves, preferring instead to put much greater weight on the non-financial information that will be part of a new business reporting model, or to generate their own financial reports," it said.
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