The Argentine Federation of Professional Councils of Economic Sciences (FACPCE) coordinates the issuance of professional accounting and auditing standards. According to a 2008 Ernst & Young report, in 1998 the FACPCE’s Governing Board developed a plan to adapt Argentine accounting standards to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) issued by the International Accounting Standard Board (IASB). On December 8, 2000, the FACPCE’s Governing Board approved Technical Resolutions (TRs) 16 through 19, thus completing the first stage of the harmonization plan. New TRs have been issued since then. However, Ernst & Young note that the TRs differ from IFRSs in several respects. In addition, since 2007 the FACPCE and the Argentine National Securities Commission (CNV) have been actively working on the comprehensive adoption of IFRSs for listed companies and other companies of public interest. Finally, as stated on the Deloitte & Touche IAS Plus website, on March 20, 2009, the FACPCE approved TR 26, which adopted IFRSs as issued by the IASB in effect as of 2009. The Resolution also includes the commitment to incorporate all new IFRSs and modifications to the existing ones as they become available in the future. Companies included in the public listing system (which lists shares and corporate bonds), or companies that requested authorization to be included in this system, (with the exception of banks, financial trusts, insurance companies, and cooperatives) are legally required to apply TR 26 effective for periods beginning on January 1, 2011. Other companies may apply either IFRSs or continue to follow Argentinean Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, which, as mentioned above, differ from the international standards. According to a 2009 publication by PricewaterhouseCoopers, other than the CNV, the regulators have not announced any plans to introduce IFRSs.
On July 4, 2003 FACPCE issued Technical Resolution No. 284 whereby it approved a project to adopt International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). The adoption was set to take effect as of June 30, 2004. The Resolution stipulated that the FACPCE would retain the right to adopt ISAs either in full or in part, and the text of the approved standard should include: (1) ISAs translated into Spanish, using Argentine vocabulary and expressions on the basis of a translation that the FACPCE will prepare or adopt; (2) differences stemming from the particular conditions in Argentina; (3) a manual on ISAs for small entities, and (4) stipulation of future modifications. However, as explained in a 2008 article in Imagen Professional Magazine by Godoy, subsequent FACPCE resolutions postponed the application of ISAs in the country and, at the time of the writing of the article, the discussions about the introduction of ISAs were focused on what type of entities should be required to have their financial statements audited in accordance with ISAs and whether the implementation should be gradual or wholesale. In a July 2008 response to the Part 3 of the IFAC´s Member Body Compliance Program, the FACPCE explains that the deadlines for the adoption of ISAs were to be determined by the end of 2008. As of May 2009, there was no information publicly available on whether this objective had been achieved.