The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation has published its 2016 edition of the Pocket Guide to IFRS Standards.

It shows that adoption of IFRS standards is spreading – 83 per cent of the biggest economies in the world now require the standards for all or most domestic listed companies and financial institutions and the remainder permit their use. It also shows that IFRS is being increasingly adopted across Asia, with several major Asian economies (China, India and Japan) moving closer to IFRS adoption in the past year and, overall, almost three-quarters of Asian countries requiring the use of the standards.

The guide was edited by ex-board member Paul Pacter and it contains analysis of 143 jurisdictions representing 98 per cent of global GDP.

In addition, 80 jurisdictions now require or permit use of the IFRS for SMEs® Standard—a self-contained Standard specifically designed for small and medium-sized companies without public accountability—which was first issued in 2009.

Hans Hoogervorst, chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board, commented: “It is great to see continued strong momentum in the progress towards IFRS Standards across the major Asian economies. In an ideal world, we would have one single, trusted global standard for financial reporting. Users of financial reports can now easily compare information from companies across nearly 120 jurisdictions, in every region of the world.”

The Pocket Guide can be downloaded here.