Strong project management will be essential to ensure that public sector organisations deliver International Financial Reporting Standards on schedule. Stakeholder buy-in, engagement of audit committees with IFRS issues and effective dialogues with external auditors are also a must. These were among the key messages at the second IFRS forum in London, hosted jointly by the Financial Reporting Faculty of the ICAEW and CIPFA. Nigel Sleigh-Johnson, head of the faculty at the ICAEW, said: 'IFRS is now upon the public sector and although the process has been delayed by one year, there is no room for complacency. Strong leadership, commitment and a topdown approach are essential for the successful delivery of IFRS. 'Good systems and internal controls are also essential to the smooth running of the process, and the challenges of IFRS implementation need to be understood throughout the organisation, not just by the finance team.' He added that organisations should carry out a risk analysis, mapping their business against each standard to work out where the risks and challenges lie, and then plan a strategy to mitigate these. Ian Carruthers, CIPFA policy and technical, said: 'This second forum reinforced the importance of strong project management and getting buy-in from stakeholders. Considerable progress has been made, but departments and other bodies should not underestimate the work required to produce shadow accounts that can be given a clear audit opinion. 'Care will also be needed to embed expertise and systems that support the production of financial statements on an ongoing basis, and to integrate these into wider business processes.'