The International Accounting Standards Board has published its long-awaited standard that scales the entire international accounting rule book for small and medium-sized entities.

The International Financial Reporting Standard for SMEs is a 230-page missive, developed over five years, that summarizes the entire library of IFRS and scales it to the needs and capabilities of smaller companies. IASB says many of the principles of IFRS for recognizing and measuring assets, liabilities, income, and expenses have been simplified for the benefit of smaller companies. The standard omits topics that don’t apply to smaller entities, and it reduces the number of disclosure requirements.

IASB said the SME standard answers strong international demand both from developed and emerging economies for a common set of standards that are simpler for SMEs to apply. The board says the standard will provide greater comparability among smaller companies and greater confidence in financial reports of smaller entities. It also provides a platform for emerging companies that are looking to access the capital markets.

In the United States, accounting experts have long debated whether it would be possible to establish and apply a separate set of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles for smaller companies—the so-called “big GAAP, little GAAP” debate. Now in the international arena, the rulebook at least has been written.

D.J. Gannon, national leader of Deloitte’s IFRS Center of Excellence, believes IFRS for SMEs likely will gain a following in the United States. While GAAP is the accepted standard for private entities in the United States, it is not mandated. As public companies prepare for a required transition to IFRS, private companies may find it appealing as well, he said.

“GAAP is becoming increasingly complex for all companies,” he said. “IFRS for SMEs is, frankly, a lot simpler. The interesting thing about it is there is no Securities and Exchange Commission that oversees private companies. There is no one body that mandates what their reporting requirements are ... I’ve got to believe it will have some traction here.”

A recent Webcast poll by Deloitte said more than 40 percent of 1,700 finance professionals mostly from private companies said they would take a look at IFRS for SMEs standard when it was published. Nearly 14 percent said they would consider adopting it in the near term, and 26 percent said they would assess the costs and benefits of adoption.