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Ifrs vs Australian Ifrs

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Submitted By emilykpete
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IFRS vs. A- IFRS
Australia along with New Zealand, The European Union, China and Russia was one of the earliest adopters of the IFRS. Australia adopted an IFRS equivalent which they call A-IFRS starting January 1, 2005. Even though, Australia and the IFRS have converged there are still some difference in the accounting practices allowed by Australian GAAP and the full IFRS. The differences between the two sets of standards are not as glaring as the differences between US GAAP and IFRS but the differences between the A-IFRS and IFRS are worth noting.
The treatment of general insurance contracts and life insurance differs between the two standards. Australian firms must follow AASB 1023 and 1038 these standards are more specific than IFRS 4 which covers all insurance contracts and financial instruments with flexible participation features. AASB details all of the disclosure measurement and recognition requirements of accounting for general insurance contracts. AASB 1038 deals with life insurance contracts and is more specific than IFRS 4, it doesn’t allow “shadow accounting” which IFRS 4 does allow (Porter, 6). Shadow accounting has become popular because of outsourcing and is the checking and confirming aspects of a company’s accounting function on the managers behalf (Kaufman, 69). These slight differences do allow a company following the Australia equivalent to the IFRS does allow Australian firms to fully comply with the IFRS but it does lead to comparability problems. A lack of comparability seems counteractive to the IASBs goal of a worldwide set of standards because one of the main reasons for one set of standards is to increase comparability.
Extractive Industries in Australia also encounter differences between the IFRS and A- IFRS. The AASB 6 has specific requirements for the treatment of exploration and evaluation of minerals. The IFRS allows many

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