International

The International Accounting Standards Board publishes an exposure draft of a group of proposals, First-time Application of International Financial Reporting Standards ( www.iasb.org.uk/docs/ed1/ed1.pdf ), intended to ensure that entities adopting these standards provide in their financial statements information comparable to that reported under previous standards. The board wants to make certain investors have adequate information to analyze a reporting entity’s first financial statements using the international standards and to minimize the cost of transition for statement preparers. Comments are due October 31.

The International Federation of Accountants releases exposure drafts ( www.ifac.org ) of seven education standards: Entry Requirements, Content of Professional Education Programs, Professional Skills and General Education, Professional Values and Ethics, Experience Requirements, Assessment of Professional Competence and Continuing Professional Education and Development. The last-named of these is also the subject of a new IFAC guideline. Comments are due December 31.