"Though the Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAI) has set the ball rolling, government has to take a serious note of the matter. The time left is too little and Income Tax Act, Companies Act among others are to be amended,"accountancy firm Grant Thornton Partner Sai Venkateshwaran said here.
"Going by our Parliamentary process, it will take a lot of time and our IFRS adoption deadline is 2011," he added.
Pointing out that the most essential change required is in the Companies Act, he said by converging Indian accounting practices with the International Financial Reporting System (IFRS), global confidence in Indian companies would be boosted as it would provide actual position of companies to overseas investors.
Further, he said, since the IFRS is based on the fair- value concept, legislations like Income Tax Act which takes into account historical cost also need to be amended so that corporates can expedite their process of adopting IFRS by 2011, the deadline set by the ICAI for its full adoption.
"We are already late and three years is a short time for adopting such complex system, which demands a complete revamping of our present system," Venkateshwaran said.
There are many challenges facing India Inc in adoption of IFRS and as a first step towards convergence, companies must start training and educating their stakeholders and management about the nuances of international accounting system, DLF Group Chief Financial Officer Ramesh Sanka said.
