Achieving dual compliance 

The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") adopted rules in December 2007 to allow foreign private issuers to file financial statements with the SEC prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) "as issued by the IASB" without including a reconciliation to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in the United States ("US GAAP").  The requirement for the financial statements to be prepared in accordance with IFRS "as issued by the IASB" prevents filers using national standards that have converged with IFRS, including Hong Kong Financial Reporting Standards (HKFRS).
    
There may be circumstances, therefore, in which an entity that prepares financial statements in accordance with HKFRS wishes to refer to compliance with both HKFRS and IFRS ("dual compliance") in order to benefit from the SEC's relief; this publication addresses some of the issues that an entity may face.
    
You may find this publication useful in helping you to:   

1. understand why there may be differences between financial statements prepared in accordance with HKFRS and those prepared in accordance with IFRS, notwithstanding that HKFRS converged with IFRS from 1 January 2005;
     
2. identify key differences between financial statements prepared in accordance with HKFRS and those to which IFRS 1 has been applied upon first time adoption of IFRS, with 1 January 2006 as the date of transition; and
      
3. understand the options available to some entities that may enable dual compliance with both HKFRS and IFRS to be achieved.