Deloitte and Oracle Extend Alliance to Address International Financial Reporting Standards

Deloitte (New York) announced it is furthering its alliance with Oracle (Redwood Shores) to help businesses address organizational challenges associated with the conversion to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) . Deloitte and Oracle will team to focus on industry-specific challenges of adopting IFRS in the U.S. and other countries.

IFRS is a single set of accounting principles that focuses on objectives and principles and is less reliant on detailed rules than U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (U.S. GAAP). According to Delloite, potential benefits of IFRS include reduced complexity, greater transparency, increased comparability and improved efficiency. While no definitive required conversion dates have yet been set for current U.S. GAAP filers, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEChas published a roadmap for IFRS adoption and transition) that runs from 2011 to 2016. The transition to IFRS impacts a company's financial regulatory reporting, tax, business processes and systems to varying degrees depending upon the industry and countries in which a company operates.

The combined Deloitte and Oracle teams will assist Fortune 1000 companies plan for the transition and capitalize on the potential benefits of IFRS. Oracle's IFRS integration team and financial management solutions, combined with Deloitte's cross-functional service capabilities, can help organizations improve information quality, manage multiple accounting frameworks, capitalize on opportunities, improve business processes and enforce global standards and controls while complying with local regulations, according to the solutions providers. Over the past two years, Deloitte has made investments in IFRS methods and tools to optimize its multidisciplinary delivery of IFRS services, including an Oracle-specific IFRS solution set that streamlines the IFRS assessment and planning processes, the vendor reports. The combined Deloitte and Oracle team will work together to refine this tool set by industry.

Katherine Burger is Editorial Director of Bank Systems & Technology and Insurance & Technology, members of UBM TechWeb's InformationWeek Financial Services. She assumed leadership of Bank Systems & Technology in 2003 and of Insurance & Technology in 1991. In addition to ... View Full Bio