We look forward to discussing your needs and interests in IPSAS in the coming months. You can contact me email Mark at m.neal67@ahoo.com Or +1 780-297-9569

1. Overcoming the Challenges of
IPSAS Transition
Transition Strategies for:
Successful IPSAS Implementation

2. Agenda
• Introductions
• Overall Planning and Project Management
– Transition scoping
– Methodology for implementation
– What is driving the decision to adopt IPSAS?
– Choices and Their Impacts on Implementation
– Who Should be part of the IPSAS transition team?
• High Impact Areas for IPSAS Transition
• Treatment of Presentation of Financial Statements
Considerations
• Treatment of Fixed Assets and Considerations
• Cash versus Accrual Accounting
• IPSAS PARTNER Demonstration
• Closing Remarks and Questions and Answers

3. Seminar Materials Disclaimer
• Presenters at the seminar have prepared materials for
the interest of participants. We trust that you will find
the materials useful, but given the changing nature of the
topic matter and the summary level of today’s
presentation, neither presenters, nor Issues Central, Inc.,
can warrant that the use of the materials would be
adequate to discharge the legal or professional liability of
participants in the conduct of their practice or business
operations.

4. About Issues Central, Inc.
• To support our IPSAS consulting practice, Issues Central introduced IPSAS
PARTNER. The world’s first transition product for IPSAS conversion. IPSAS PARTNER
is the leading software solution to help automate and streamline the transition
from local government accounting standards to IPSAS with ongoing IPSAS
compliant financial reporting.
•Global website: www.ipsaspartner.com
•To support our IFRS consulting practice in 2008 Issues Central introduced the
world’s first GAAP-­‐to-­‐IFRS transition product -­‐ IFRS PARTNER. IFRS PARTNER is the
leading software solution worldwide to help automate and streamline the
transition from local GAAP to IFRS (and then provide ongoing IFRS compliant
financial reporting.
• Global website: www.ifrspartner.com

5. Seminar Presenter: Catherine Connally, CIA
• Catherine Connally has over twenty-­‐five years experience in financial
management and compliance, internal audit and executive management. She
began her career in the extractive sector with internal audit responsibilities in
both the mining and oil & gas sectors with Atlantic Richfield and British
Petroleum.
• She is a well known technology and compliance sector entrepreneur having
started technology businesses in both the United States and Canada.
• She has provided seminars and workshop to over one thousand organizations
Catherine Connally around the world on IFRS transition and related financial compliance activities.
CIA • Catherine is a co-­‐author and primary architect of industry leading financial
President of Issues transition and compliance products including IFRS PARTNER for GAAP to IFRS
Central, Inc and CFO PARTNER for Sarbanes-­‐Oxley compliance.
• She graduated in finance with honours from the University of Colorado at
Boulder and is a Certified Internal Auditor.
• She has extensive knowledge of International Financial Reporting Standards
(IFRS) and her lead role in the development of the IFRS PARTNER product has
led to the market success of the product with over two hundred organizations
in all key business sectors. Ms. Connally is a frequent speaker on IFRS transition
and internal controls.

6. Seminar Presenter: Charley Best, MBA
• Charley Best has over 25 years of experience in executive management and
consulting roles across the manufacturing, technology, and services sectors. He is
an authority on the application of sound project management techniques to
complex projects such as the transition to international financial reporting
standards (IFRS) in various national settings.
• At Issues Central, Inc. (ICI) Charley has organized the company’s IFRS campaigns
across Canada, the United States and abroad to bring over 200 companies to the
new IFRS standards. Charley has worked extensively with companies and
regulators in Canada, the United States, South Africa, and recently Nigeria, to
Charley Best develop and deliver methodologies and tools to streamline costs and time-­‐to-­‐
MBA comply for areas such as IFRS transition, Sarbanes-­‐Oxley Act of 2002, NI 52-­‐109,
Vice President of and Executive Compensation Disclosure.
Issues Central, Inc.
• He is in charge of ICI’s IFRS activities in Nigeria and since November 2010 he and
(Toronto, Canada) and
his team have provided IFRS TRAINING and training to over 100 organizations
including regulators, NSE listed firms, government entities and external auditors.
• He is also the main project architect behind the IFRS Transition Program series for
Insurance, Manufacturing and other sectors in Nigeria. Charley is a best-­‐selling
author of the Manufacturing Systems Implementation Methodology (MSIM) first
published in 1988. He has a BA from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario,
Canada and an MBA from York University in Toronto, Canada.

7. Seminar Presenter: Marc Neal, CMA
• Marc Neal has over 27 years of experience in accounting and
executive financial and project management roles.
• His international accounting experience includes ad Deputy
Director Finance for the Supply Division and Agency of the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). In that role he successfully
transitioned NATO from cash accounting to full accruals accounting
using IPSAS. The project deliverables included application
standards for the 21 reporting entities, and sample disclosure notes
that would be adapted to individual entity reporting requirements.
Marc Neal, • This four year implementation of IPSAS also involved dealing with
the following related issues: refining and implementation of new
CMA
IPSAS PARTNER –
projects both IT and construction related; handling change
Product Manager management issues related to internal development projects;
successful implementation Oracle 7 ERP solutions; establishment of
Activity Based Costing (ABC); review of contracts, MOUs and
implementing agreements; oversaw the execution of operational
budgets in excess of 1.5 billion Euros; providing internal financial
management reports for the use of the board of directors and
senior management; and lastly the management of 32 staff.
• Marc is a graduate of the University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
and is a Certified Management Accountant (CMA).

8. Planning & Project Management
Best Practices

9. Overall Planning
Transition scoping and diagnostic:
The overall steps to a successful IPSAS transition
encompass the following:
– Identification of an appropriate transition team
• All individuals who will participate as project team
members and advisors
– Identifying the optimal implementation criteria
across the entities impacted entities

10. Overall Planning (cont’d)
Transition scoping and Diagnostic
The overall steps to a successful IPSAS transition
encompass the following:
– Cross functional areas to be evaluated in addition
to the finance and accounting areas such as:
• Business processes,
• ITC requirements,
• the audit function,
• stakeholder management and
• change management areas

11. Overall Planning (cont’d)
The overall steps to a successful IPSAS transition
encompass the following:
– Engagement of the External Audit Function:
• Court of Auditors,
• internal auditors,
• audit committees, and
• senior financial expert body

12. Methodology for implementation
• The choices you make when implementing
across the various levels and entities are
critical
• There are many potential ways to approach
the adoption of IPSAS.
– Careful consideration should be taken to
evaluate the impact in the following areas:
• What is the time line for implementation?
• At what level will consolidation take place?
• What are the spheres of influence between entities?
• Can certain parts of the entity implement first without
an adverse impact on other areas?

13. Methodology for implementation (cont’d)
– Careful consideration should be taken to
evaluate the impact in the following areas:
• What are the future chart of accounts requirements?
• How will future changes in chart of accounts be
accommodated?
• What is the level of IPSAS competence within the
entities?
• Will a phased in approach be utilised?
• Will a phased-­‐in approach be taken to accommodate
training requirements?

14. Choices and Their Impacts on Implementation
IPSAS versus a custom set of standards:
• Developing a set of national public sector
custom set of standards:
– Takes many years to develop
– Independence from international influence
– May put the organisation on its own as opposed
to part of the international community
• Very costly to develop in terms of staff
availability = high opportunity cost

15. Choices and Their Impacts on Implementation (cont’d)
• Adopting IPSAS has many benefits which include:
– Reduced time to implementation,
– Lower opportunity costs,
– Comprehensive set of standards:
• Developed with combined world-­‐wide expertise
• Benefit of evolving over many years and
• Are in line with IFRS
– IPSASB is comprised of experts from around the world
• Board has very good process for evaluating and setting
standards
– Standards are internationally recognized
• The standards address most situations governments and
public sector organizations face
– IPSAS is promoted by the World Bank

16. Choices and Their Impacts on Implementation (cont’d)
Incremental versus “Big Bang” implementation:
• A decision to implement IPSAS incrementally
may require significantly longer than a “Big
Bang” implementation
– but often provides a smoother transition and
does spread the cost over a longer period of time
• Incremental implementation will have an
impact on the ability to consolidate financials
• Scheduling IT system upgrade requirements is
difficult with an incremental approach

17. Who Should be part of the IPSAS Transition Team?
• The IPSAS Transition Team should be:
– A multidisciplinary team with representation from budget,
accounting, IT, Business functional areas,
• The basic team should have reporting lines to a
decision making committee
– such as an audit committee with financial Experts
• The team will need access to:
– Audit authority, or
– external auditors,
– to ensure that decisions can be supported within the audit
• The team will need to provide regular updates to the
Executive Board

18. What are Team Responsibilities?
• Team responsibilities include:
– Responsibility for project management,
– Accounting policy development
– Support for implementation
– Change management activities,
– Communications with auditors and executive
committees
– Training

19. High Impact Areas
Issues and Considerations

20. High Impact Areas for IPSAS Transition
• Presentation of Financial Statements
• Property plant and equipment
• Intangible assets
• Inventory
• Accruals accounting
• Cash flow statements
• Investment in associates
• Budgets
• Consolidations

21. Treatment of Fixed Assets
Issues and Considerations

22. Fixed Assets Issues and Valuation
• Within many public sector organizations, fixed
assets poses a great deal of difficulty
– Difficulties arise in terms of:
– assessing an initial value for assets, particularly
for large assets such as infrastructure, heritage
assets, artwork and so on
• Valuation choices and options include:
– historical cost,
– independent evaluators/appraisers

23. Fixed Assets Issues and Valuation
• There are choices to make
– To depreciate the asset over its useful life or
– To revalue on a periodic basis
• Within IPSAS, the choice to amortize or
revalue are made for each class of assets
• IPSAS allows for a 5 year transition period for
fixed assets
– from the first year of presenting IPSAS compliant
financial statements

24. Accrual & Cash Basis Accounting
Discussion and Advantages/Disadvantages

25. Reasons for Change to Accrual Accounting
• What is driving the decision to move to
accruals accounting?
– According to recent studies, there is an
increased drive towards the adoption of
accrual based accounting standards for the
public sector.
• Top reasons cited include:
– Increased transparency
– Increased insight into the use of and stewardship of
the public’s tax payments and the assets entrusted
to the government
– Overall better information for decision making
purposes

26. Cash versus Accrual Accounting
Advantages of Cash Accounting
• Simpler to maintain
• Data can be taken from minimal sources:
– bank statements
– cheque books
– deposit book
• Preparation of financial reports requires less time
because minimal adjustments are required when
prepared from cash records
• People with limited accounting knowledge can more
easily understand the financial reports
• Finalized financial reports can be prepared on demand
without the need for adjusting entries

27. Cash versus Accrual Accounting (cont’d)
Advantages of Cash Accounting
• Simpler to maintain
• Data can be taken from minimal sources:
– bank statements
– cheque books
– deposit book
• Preparation of financial reports requires less time
because minimal adjustments are required when
prepared from cash records
• People with limited accounting knowledge can more
easily understand the financial reports
• Finalized financial reports can be prepared on demand
without the need for adjusting entries

28. Cash versus Accrual Accounting (cont’d)
Disadvantages of Cash Accounting
• Financial reports do not represent the true financial
position and performance of the business
• This method does not comply with the accounting
concept of the matching principle
• Financial institutions may not accept this accounting
method when making loan applications
• It is an unreliable financial analysis and decision
making tool due to an incomplete picture of financial
commitments
• Performance comparisons are difficult:
– With previous period results and
– Other organisational benchmarks

29. Cash versus Accrual Accounting (cont’d)
Advantages of Accrual Accounting
• Provides a truer and fairer representation of the
financial position and performance of the organization
• Complies with accounting standard requirements
• Financial reports have more credibility with financial
institutions and investors
• More reliable financial analysis and decision making
tool with valid comparisons with prior periods and
benchmarks
• Positions the organization for future growth
– Accrual accounting system will eventually need to be
adopted

30. Cash versus Accrual Accounting (cont’d)
Disadvantages of Accrual Accounting
• More transactions are required to record the same
number of financial events
• More complex with the requirements to calculate
and manage the 'end of period adjustments' .
• Often requires the professional accounting training
to assist in preparation of the financial statements
• Greater requirement to retain all source documents
to help identify the timing and scope of revenues
and expenses
• Financial reports take longer to prepare since
income/expense adjustments require additional
investigation

31. Cash versus Accrual Accounting (cont’d)
• The benefits of accrual accounting are to ensure
transparency to stakeholders
• With accrual accounting, there is greater visibility
on assets and liabilities,
– This does not exist with a cash basis presentation
• In other words, presentation is more accurate
under accrual based accounting and more
comparable world-­‐wide
• As a result the organization has a greater ability
to develop and track key performance metrics

32. The IPSAS PARTNER approach to
meeting your transition requirements
A step-­‐by-­‐step, GAAP-­‐to-­‐IPSAS methodology delivered as an easy-­‐to-­‐
use product with support and assistance

33. Product Benefits
• Rapid to deploy
• Cuts through the IPSAS fog and gets you working
immediately
• Create policies quickly and accurately
• Impact Assessment documentation easily customized
• Reporting will help you to substantiate your decision
making for audit committees and external auditors
• Works with Microsoft Office® tools
• Proven product and very affordable
• Various options for deployment

34. IPSAS PARTNER -­‐ GAAP to IPSAS Transition
Step 5: Generate IPSAS policy
impact assessment Step 6:
details for review Generate IPSAS policy impact assessment
details documentation for
measurement, disclosures, systems,
business activities and internal controls.
Step 4: Step 7:
Review ‘Clean Slate” Document policy
Draft IPSAS Policies decisions for review and
generate adjustments and
Step 3:
Generate Scoping & IPSAS elections.
Diagnostic Reports
Step 8:
Step 2:
Prepare opening balance
Capacity
sheet, notes and quarterly
Building
comparatives.
on IPSAS Step 1:
START HERE Develop
Project Plan

35. Two Options for IPSAS PARTNER
• Option One:
– IPSAS PARTNER Software + Content plus
– Training and Support

36. Two Options for IPSAS PARTNER
• Option Two:
– Tailored workshops with experts on IPSAS
delivering capacity building with your peers
– As part of the workshops, assistance in
completion of project deliverables
– IPSAS PARTNER software + Content
– Training and Support

37. What you are about to see
Brief product demonstration:
• Quick overview of IPSAS PARTNER structure
• Then focus on:
– IPSAS Draft Policies with elections
– Disclosure checklists
– Helpful templates for calculations and analysis
– Impact Assessment documentation
– Graphical reporting for project management and
auditors

38. PRODUCT PRESENTATION:
IPSAS PARTNER

39. IPSAS PARTNER Main Menu

40. Special Pricing Available until 31 December
• For the first 25 organisations who become
IPSAS PARTNER customers
– There is a special 33% discount available for
placing an IPSAS PARTNER software order by
31 December
– If this is of interest to you, please contact us after
this session and we will put together a proposal
specially tailored to your organisation

41. Discussion and Questions
Note: you can use the chat feature to ask questions
or email mneal@issuescentral.com

42. Contact Information
• For sales and pricing information please
contact:
– Charley Best – Vice President
• E-­‐mail: charleybest@issuescentral.com
• Tel: +14169771496 ext 112
• For questions about today’s seminar materials
please contact:
– Marc Neal – IPSAS Product Manager
• E-­‐mail: mneal@issuescentral.com