GAAP Conversions
Navigate between statutory, IFRS, and US GAAP with ease
Using a phased approach to ensure you can get support tailored to your budget & supplement your in-house team as needed
3 Phases of GAAP Conversion
Strategic
- Discovery walkthroughs and review of policy documentation
- Scoping of high-risk TB accounts
- Simple tabular documentation of material financial statement line items, current UK GAAP policies, transitioned US GAAP policies and summary of differences
- Detailed docuemntation (memos)for auditors of high-risk TB accounts discussing guidance, differences, and conversion approach
Operational
- Develop workbooks for calculating quantitative differences for conversion adjustments for year-end and comparative information
Reporting
- Preparation of first-time adoption US GAAP consolidated FS including explanatory notes
- Optional support to liase with auditors during FS audit under US GAAP or ISA
Who am I?
I am a US CPA who has been living in EMEA for the past decade.
Most of my career has been spent with PwC in Boston, Frankfurt (Germany), and Dubai (UAE) in the audit, capital markets and accounting advisory teams. I have worked on all aspects of accounting advisory – IFRS/US GAAP/European GAAP conversions, IFRS/US GAAP new standards implementation, IPO Readiness and execution for European companies into NYSE/NASDAQ.
I spent 3 years in private equity for a Toronto-based company, building their European accounting and reporting function from the ground up – I put all reconciliations, checklists, reporting files in place and managed acquisition into new territories around Europe. I also led their IFRS – US GAAP conversion and IFRS 16 (ASC 842) leasing implementation.
I now consult independently on all aspects around cross-border accounting and IFRS/US GAAP standards, working most recently on a US GAAP conversion for a UK SaaS company and for an Austrian subsidiary of a Fortune 100 company.
Working with Me Looks Like
Preference Towards Async Work
- Working across multiple international entities and timezones, working seamlessly in the background while you take care of business as usual
- This means using technology to reduce meetings or make them more efficient – such as loom to walk through files over recorded video vs. in-peron meetings, or software to transcribe meetings when needing to be more present on calls
Real-Time Project Management
- I use ClickUp to put in place a project homepage with timeline and task management – so your team can check this daily to see progress made, time spent, and any bottlenecks or open questions/support that are on your plate.
Helping Your Team to Help Themselves
- Since I work on discrete projects, I know I am not going to be around forever. I enjoy the process of educating team members in the technical accounting space so they are empowered to run the day-to-day business with this extra responsibility. I would rather have them call me up to work on exciting new projects than being frustrated at current processes, so I will always give my two cents on how things might be done more effectively.
What’s Included in Each Phase
My Competitive Advantage
Cross-border experience from living & working across borders for 10 years
Seasoned knowledge from serving various clients across industries
Specialized in European companies with US accounting & reporting needs
Big 4 experience across audit, capital markets & accounting advisory
Industry experience from building a European PE Finance function from scratch
Early adopter for async/automation tools, investing in scaling client solution
US CPA investing in continuous professional development CPEs
Disadvantages of Working with Other Advisors
Big4/Advisory Firms
- Cross-border experience requires multiple jurisdiction support = expensive & disjointed communication
- Lack of industry experience = theoretical vs. practical experience
- Bloated, top-heavy structures with high overhead = high fees
- Lack of partner support, mostly junior level client-facing teams
European FTEs
- Lack of bandwidth to support in addition to day job
- Lack of specialization in US GAAP and FPI experience
- Limited experience to benchmark best practices & set up processes/documentation
Other US Freelancers
- Limited benchmarking from similar FPI experience
- Lack of experience in cross-border nuances / European GAAP
- Limited investment in tools, such as
- Intelligize (SEC benchmarking software, $10K subscription)
- Inability to read/speak German
What Clients Say
