Canada companies seen lagging on accounting switch

* Canadian public companies must implement IFRS by 2011

* Must have parallel systems running by 2010

* 12 pct of companies surveyed have not taken first step

* 80 pct still short of halfway mark in conversion process

* 60 pct say IFRS will mean big changes to asset values

By John McCrank

TORONTO, June 25 (Reuters) - Many of Canada's public companies have been slow to implement new international accounting standards that could have big financial implications, according to a study released on Thursday.

Companies will have to scramble to make the changes ahead of a 2011 deadline, the report said.

The Canadian Accounting Standards Board last year said all Canadian publicly accountable enterprises must replace Canadian Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by Jan. 1, 2011. More than 100 countries have adopted IFRS.

The idea is to create a level playing field when it comes to interpreting annual reports, Ramona Dzinkowski, executive director of the Canadian Financial Executives Research Foundation, said in an interview.

"By having every country on the same standard, this allows international capital mobility to run much more smoothly," she said. "We can compare companies and we can compare industries across the world."

By 2010, Canadian public companies must have parallel systems up and running, which means they have to be able to compare their existing Canadian GAAP results to IFRS GAAP results and explain the differences.

Yet the study, conducted by CFERF, FEI Canada, and sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers, showed that 12 percent of the 147 public companies surveyed had not yet taken the first step of starting their initial diagnostic assessments.

About 80 percent of public companies remained short of the halfway mark in their overall conversion process.

Dzinkowski said these companies are going to have to really begin to take the conversion to task.

"They have to file and the Ontario Securities Commission is requiring that they file under IFRS, so, if you are not able to file under the accounting standard that is required, there is a significant problem with your reporting and that will trigger all sorts of red flags in the market," she said.