The implementation of the International Accounting Standards Board’s (IASB) two standards on financial instruments – IAS 32, Financial Instruments: Disclosure and Presentation and IAS 39, Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement – promises to be one of the most difficult issues treasury departments will face in the near future. The standards have yet to be finalised but on 1 January 2005 all listed companies in Europe will be required to be IAS-compliant, and if they are to show the right comparative information, they need to produce IAS information from 1 January 2004 – which is only a few short months from now.
