In July 2009, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) released the International Financial
Reporting Standard (IFRS) for Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) (the “Standard”), which is built on the
foundation of the full IFRS but a stand-alone product that is separate from former, after a five-year
development process. The IFRS for SMEs is designed to meet the needs and capabilities of SME, which are
estimated to account for over 95% of all companies around the world.
The Standard defines SMEs as entities that do not have public accountability and publish general purpose
financial statements for external users. It is not mandatory for these SMEs to adopt the Standard. The
choice is rightly given in view that certain SMEs aspire to get publicly listed and it could be more costly for
these SMEs to migrate from IFRS for SMEs to the full set of IFRS as compared to them adopting IFRS from
the beginning.
The IFRS for SMEs boosts a more than 85% reduction in the volume of accounting guidance as compared
with the full set of IFRS as a result of the following: