A Dissertation Submitted in Partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the Degree of Master of Science in Accounting and Finance (MSc A&F) of Mzumbe University
International accounting standards are intended to create uniformity in financial reporting of all businesses in the world. However International financial reporting standards (IFRSs) cannot be utilised equally by all establishments due to several bottlenecks, ranging from lack of qualified personnel, cost of implementing IFRSs, Public accountabilities, need to undergo global and legal enforcement. The IASB issued simpler version of IFRSs for SMEs in July 2009 ,as a stand -alone set of standards, to be used by SMEs in different economies. The SMEs can choose to report their business information either by using full IFRS or can report using IFRS for SMEs. The gap required to be filled by this study is to establish whether Tanzania SME s comply or do not comply to these IFRS for SMEs, after NBAA endorse the use of them in Tanzania, October 2009. This is a descriptive study, which was conducted in a survey design in Morogoro Municipality. A sample of 50 SMEs were studied from various industries, including Manufacturers, Mechandizing business, Service providers and Consultants. Primary data were collected using open and closed-ended questionnaires and interviews. The analysis of data using SPSS package ,give the results which show that, there is no SME is using IFRSs for SMEs. Thus the proportion of SMEs complying with IFRS is 0% The main problems hindering the SMEs in complying with IFRSs are as high cost of implementing IFRS arising from hire charges of qualified individuals and employing them. The second reason of failure to apply IFRSs for SMEs is ignorance of the availability of SMEs tailor made standards On the way forward, we advise the government to empower the local authorities in supervising the implementation of various international standards agreed by national bodies such as NBAA. However it is better to stick at local standards, if we find international standards jeopardise the country economy.