AMMAN – HE Dr. Talal
Abu-Ghazaleh, chairman of the International Arab Society of Certified
Accountants (IASCA), announced that the Society has issued the latest Arabic
translated edition of the 2025 IFRS for SMEs Accounting Standard, in
cooperation with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation.
This is the only official
printed version of the third edition of the IFRS for SMEs Accounting Standard,
issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and translated by
the Saudi Organization for Chartered and Professional Accountants (SOCPA).
Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh noted
that the IFRS for SMEs Accounting Standard is based on full IFRS Accounting
Standards and tailored to companies without public accountability that publish general-purpose
financial statements. The Standard aims to balance the information needs of
lenders and other users of SMEs’ financial statements with the resources
available to SMEs.
Main changes to the IFRS for SMEs Accounting
Standard since the last edition published in 2015:-
Section 2-Concepts and Pervasive Principles
Section 9 - Consolidated and Separate Financial Statements
Section 11 - Financial Instruments (combining previous Section 11 and Section 12)
Section 12- Fair Value Measurement (a new section)
Section 19 - Business Combinations and Goodwill
Section 23 - Revenue from Contracts with Customers
Regarding how they differ from the full
International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), The IFRS for SMEs
Accounting Standard reflects five types of simplifications from full IFRS
Accounting Standards:
Some topics in full IFRS Accounting Standards are omitted because they are not relevant to typical SMEs;
Some accounting policy options in full IFRS Accounting Standards are not allowed because a more simplified method is available to SMEs;
Many of the recognition and measurement principles that are in full IFRS Accounting Standards have been simplified;
Substantially fewer disclosures are required; and
the text is written in ‘plain English’, so it is easier to understand and translate.
This third edition of the Standard, issued by the
International Accounting Standards Board, is effective for annual reporting
periods as of or after January 1, 2027 with early application permitted.
IASCA had previously
signed a cooperation agreement with the IFRS Foundation in early 2019 for the
reprinting, publication, and distribution of the International Financial
Reporting Standards and the IFRS for Small and Medium-sized Entities (IFRS for
SMEs). Under the agreement, the Society would distribute both publications
throughout the Arab world, further strengthening more than 20 years of cooperation
with the IFRS Foundation in serving the accounting profession and its
professionals.