Year-end reporting has always required technical depth, but the pressure has changed. Many global corporates now run leaner finance teams, close across multiple entities and systems, and operate with a mix of onshore leadership and remote execution. In that environment, accounting standard updates do not feel like “technical reading.” They show up as late-breaking disclosure gaps, unexpected data pulls, and audit queries you did not plan for.
As a director supporting corporate finance teams across geographies, I look at GAAP and IFRS updates through one lens: what will auditors and stakeholders ask for at year-end, and what do we need to do now so we are not rebuilding schedules in January.
Below is a practical way to approach major current and upcoming updates, with an emphasis on readiness, disclosures, and execution discipline.
The real risk is not missing an update, it is underestimating the work behind it
Most finance leaders hear about updates early. The issue is usually one of these:
- The update is “disclosure only” but requires new data your systems do not store cleanly
- The update affects interim reporting or comparatives, which creates an earlier workload than expected
- The update intersects with controls and evidence, so you need a stronger review trail
- Your team knows the technical change but does not have the bandwidth to operationalize it
This is why year-end readiness is less about reading standards and more about converting them into a workplan: impact assessment, data mapping, templates, ownership, and review.
Key US GAAP areas that tend to surface in year-end reporting
You may not need to adopt every new standard this year, but you do need to know what is effective for your entity type and how it changes disclosures, controls, and audit expectations.
Income tax disclosures: ASU 2023-09
This update improves income tax disclosures and increases the level of detail expected in several areas. It is effective for public business entities for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2024 (calendar-year 2025), with a later effective date for other entities and early adoption permitted.
What this means in practice for year-end readiness
- Start early on data sourcing for the rate reconciliation and cash taxes disclosures because the detail required often sits across tax provision files, tax returns, and treasury records
- Align tax and finance early so disclosure drafts are not built in isolation
- Build an audit-ready narrative for unusual rate drivers and discrete items so you avoid repetitive auditor questions
Where remote execution helps
- Creating a structured “tax disclosure data pack” that pulls the required fields consistently across entities and periods
- Maintaining a tie-out between provision workpapers and financial statement disclosures
Segment reporting: ASU 2023-07
This update enhances reportable segment disclosures, including requirements around significant segment expenses and expanded interim disclosures. Calendar-year entities begin applying many provisions in 2024, with interim-period provisions taking effect in 2025.
What typically causes late pain
- Segment expense detail often exists in management reporting, not financial reporting
- Teams underestimate the effort to define “significant segment expenses” consistently and document the methodology
- The audit focus shifts to how segment measures are produced and reviewed, not just the output
Practical steps that keep this clean
- Document the segment reporting governance now: who owns it, what reports are used, and how it ties to internal reporting reviewed by the CODM
- Create repeatable templates for segment expense rollups and tie-outs to the ledger
- Confirm interim reporting requirements early to avoid rework mid-year
Crypto assets: ASU 2023-08
For entities holding crypto assets within scope, this update requires measurement at fair value, with gains and losses recognized in net income, and includes new disclosure requirements. It is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2024, including interim periods, with early adoption permitted.
Where the workload shows up
- Determining in-scope assets and ensuring consistent fair value methodology
- Establishing disclosure-ready rollforwards and valuation support
- Strengthening controls over pricing sources and cutoff
If your crypto exposure is small, it can still become an audit focal point because it touches valuation, completeness, and controls.
Expense disaggregation disclosures: ASU 2024-03
This standard requires more disaggregated disclosure of income statement expenses for public business entities, with adoption required for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2026 and interim periods thereafter.
Even though the effective date may feel distant, it is worth noting now because the hardest part is often data structure. If your expense taxonomy in the ERP is not aligned to disclosure categories, you will want a roadmap before the year you adopt.
Key IFRS areas that global corporates are actively preparing for
IFRS changes often impact presentation and disclosures as much as recognition and measurement. Many global finance teams find the biggest friction comes from comparatives, interim requirements, and stakeholder messaging.
IFRS 18: Presentation and Disclosure in Financial Statements
IFRS 18 is effective for annual reporting periods beginning on or after January 1, 2027, with earlier application permitted.
Why it matters now
- It focuses heavily on the statement of profit or loss and how performance is presented
- It introduces new requirements around subtotals and management-defined performance measures
- It will likely change how you explain results to boards and investors because line items and subtotals may shift
If you report under IFRS, start thinking early about how you will map your current P&L presentation to the new structure and what your comparatives will look like.
IAS 21 amendments: Lack of Exchangeability
The IASB’s amendments address situations where a currency is not exchangeable and require disclosures that help users understand the impact. They are effective for annual reporting periods beginning on or after January 1, 2025, with early application permitted.
Where it becomes a year-end issue
- Subsidiaries operating in countries with exchange restrictions can trigger complex measurement and disclosure needs
- Teams often scramble to assemble support for exchangeability assessment, estimation methods, and sensitivity
A strong approach is to create a standing “FX restriction memo” template that is updated quarterly, not built once at year-end.
Supplier finance arrangements: IAS 7 and IFRS 7 amendments
These amendments require additional disclosures about supplier finance arrangements and are effective for annual reporting periods beginning on or after January 1, 2024, with early adoption permitted.
What drives effort
- Identifying all relevant arrangements across procurement, treasury, and AP
- Gathering terms, outstanding balances, and cash flow impacts
- Aligning disclosure language to avoid ambiguity about liquidity and working capital management
IFRS 9 and IFRS 7 amendments: Classification and measurement
The IASB issued amendments in May 2024, with an effective date of annual periods beginning on or after January 1, 2026, and early adoption permitted.
This tends to matter most for entities with complex financial instruments, contingent features, and evolving disclosures.
A practical year-end playbook for navigating standards changes
When teams handle updates well, they follow a predictable sequence. You can run this sequence whether you have a fully in-house team or a hybrid model with remote execution support.
Start with a scoped impact assessment
- List standards effective this year for your reporting framework and entity type
- Identify “disclosure heavy” updates vs “measurement heavy” updates
- Decide which areas are material and which are “monitor only”
- Align early with your auditor on interpretation-sensitive topics
Convert the impact assessment into a disclosure and data plan
- Identify every new disclosure line item and the source system or workpaper that will feed it
- Define owners for each disclosure package (tax, treasury, segment reporting, leases, revenue, etc.)
- Create repeatable templates that include tie-outs to the trial balance and supporting evidence
Build audit-ready documentation into the workflow
- For each judgment area, maintain a short memo that states the policy position, methodology, key assumptions, and approval trail
- Lock version control by using one evidence repository and consistent naming
Set a realistic calendar that protects close momentum
- Pull forward data gathering (tax, treasury, segment detail, supplier finance information) into October and November
- Run a “disclosure draft review” before close week so you are not drafting footnotes while closing books
- Do a mini dry run on two or three high-risk disclosures to confirm the data actually exists in the format you need
Where structured remote capacity supports year-end technical readiness
For many global corporates, the technical conclusions are not the bottleneck. Execution is.
This is where a disciplined delivery model helps: dedicated resources who can prepare schedules, tie-outs, disclosure packs, and supporting documentation under your direction, with clear ownership and review trails. That is exactly why we built our Accounting Seat Model and our Global Corporate Support offering.
Typical areas where teams use seat-based support in year-end reporting
- Disclosure data packs and tie-outs for tax, segment reporting, supplier finance, and cash flow
- Multi-entity rollups and reconciliation support
- Audit-ready documentation packaging, including support indexing and version control
- Recurring templates and checklists so next year’s process is easier, not harder
All our engagements are delivered as white label back-office accounting services, allowing your leadership to retain control of policies, approvals, and external communications while execution capacity scales with rigor.
A question I would ask your team this week
If we picked one disclosure update that applies to you this year, could your team answer these three questions without scrambling?
- What exactly is new in the disclosure, in plain language
- Where does the data come from, and who owns it
- What evidence would an auditor ask for to support it
If any answer is unclear, that is your signal to build a small disclosure workplan now, before close week compresses everything. If you want me to review your year-end reporting roadmap or help you structure a disclosure data pack that is ready for audit, email me at [email protected].
FAQs
Review the standards effective for your entity type and year, with special focus on disclosure-heavy updates such as income tax disclosures (ASU 2023-09) and segment reporting enhancements (ASU 2023-07), because they often require new data and stronger documentation.
Check the effective date based on whether you are a public business entity or another entity type, then map the effective year to your fiscal year start date. If you report under IFRS, confirm the standard’s effective date and whether early adoption is permitted.
Because they often require new granularity, new classifications, or new rollforwards that your ERP or tax systems do not produce automatically, which forces manual data extraction, tie-outs, and audit evidence packaging.
IFRS 18 is a new standard on presentation and disclosure in financial statements, effective for annual reporting periods beginning on or after January 1, 2027, with earlier application permitted. It changes how performance is presented, especially in the statement of profit or loss.
The IAS 21 amendments apply when a currency is not exchangeable and require disclosures explaining the impact and how amounts were determined. Companies with subsidiaries in jurisdictions with exchange restrictions are often most impacted.
Create disclosure data packs with clear source mapping, tie-outs to the trial balance, standardized templates, and a short methodology narrative for judgment-heavy areas. This reduces back-and-forth because the story is already documented.
Yes, when support is structured. Remote teams are most effective when they own repeatable execution such as disclosure data packs, tie-outs, schedule preparation, and audit-ready evidence packaging under your internal review and approval model.
In this Article
editor
Maanoj Shah is the Co-founder & Director of Growth Strategy & Alliances at Finsmart Accounting, where he pioneered the “Accounting Seat” model—a revolutionary offshore embedded staffing solution purpose-built for Accounting and CPA firms. Widely recognized as an outsourcing and offshoring expert, Maanoj’s insights have been featured in leading accounting publications, and he regularly speaks at premier industry conferences including Scaling New Heights, Bridging the Gap, BKX, and Women Who Count.
A dynamic growth leader with over two decades of experience, Maanoj has incubated, scaled, and exited ventures across Fintech, HR, and Consulting sectors, holding various CXO roles throughout his career. His passion for scaling businesses is matched by his commitment to social impact. He is the Co-founder of Mission ICU, a national healthcare initiative that installs critical care units in underserved areas of India, and was recognized by the World Economic Forum for its last-mile impact.
Outside of work, Maanoj leads an active lifestyle as an avid tennis player and passionate golfer, blending strategy and agility on and off the court.
CONTENT DISCLAIMER
The content in this article is for general information and education purposes only and should not be construed as legal or tax advice. Finsmart Accounting does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy, completeness, adequacy, or currency of the information in the article. You should seek the advice of a competent lawyer or accountant licensed to practise in your jurisdiction for advice on your particular situation.
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