"As companies expand their reach and economies globalize, the ability to compare financial statements across borders has become imperative. The question about whether the world is going to global standards is no longer 'if,' but 'when,'" said Timothy P. Flynn, KPMG LLP chairman and CEO. "The KPMG IFRS Institute will increase awareness about IFRS and give a voice to each participant in the financial reporting process."

The Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to issue a rule proposal in the next few weeks outlining the manner, timing, and eligibility for some U.S. public companies to transition from U.S. GAAP to IFRS.

The SEC has already approved a change in its rules such that foreign private issuers using IFRS as issued by the IASB are no longer required to reconcile their financial statements with U.S. GAAP. The rule applies to financial statements for years ended on or after Nov. 15, 2007, and became effective with financial statements filed on or after March 4, 2008.

The IFRS Institute will be an open forum, with Webcasts, podcasts, surveys, publications and other activities to facilitate knowledge sharing, exchange leading practices and help promote consistency in the application of IFRS.

Flynn said that KPMG expects the IFRS Institute to attract a broad cross-section of members from companies, audit committees, shareholders, accounting professionals, academia, regulators, rating agencies and others who will need to be familiar with the preparation of financial statements using IFRS and potential implications of conversion.

"Today, IFRS or a variant is used in more than 100 countries, and most European Union-listed companies are required to use the new reporting standards. Some large U.S. multinationals are already familiar with IFRS, but the majority of U.S. companies are not," Flynn noted.

The Institute will hold its inaugural IFRS Webcast on May 1. It will be hosted by KPMG partner Janice Patrisso, who has been named director of the IFRS Institute. In addition to serving as director of the IFRS Institute, Patrisso will lead KPMG's national project management office to coordinate the firm's activities and resources related to IFRS.

"To enable an orderly transition to IFRS, auditors and registrants will need to be trained in the standards, audit committee members will need to understand how to address the implications of these reporting standards on their companies' financial statements, and academia will need to adapt its curricula to educate the students of today, who will be the CFOs and auditors of tomorrow," Patrisso said.