Converting from a private company into a public company is extremely burdensome of your accounting team… soon to rebranding as “financial reporting,” BTW. Often, the process of converting to public company financial statements is long and complex, and can reveal unexpected challenges. Allowing sufficient preparation time for this process is important. Commencement of this process as soon as an IPO becomes an optional strategy for the company is recommended.
Mike Gould, Partner at PwC explains in this video snippet.
Giving your financial teams ample time to prepare AND learn the IPO financial vocabulary is key as they will be responsible for the documentation of critical and judgmental accounting policies related to all the financial statements.
- Revisiting/enhancement of accounting policies in footnotes
- Incremental disclosures to comply with SOX e.g., segments, earnings per share (EPS), pro forma info for business combinations
- Preparation of documentation in anticipation of SEC comments
- Increased attention on auditor independence, requiring company to prepare its own documentation of key accounting policies
For more depth, watch the complete webinar HERE.
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