For whom
Owners, Geschäftsführung and commercial management of owner-managed metalworking businesses (machining, forming, structural steelwork) who are encountering IFRS for the first time – because a foreign parent company, an investor, an international bank or a syndicated loan requires or is discussing IFRS figures. Not intended for businesses that must prepare IFRS financial statements themselves – that requires an auditor. A basic understanding of the balance sheet, profit and loss account, provisions and depreciation is helpful.
What you will be able to do afterwards
- identify the specific situations in which IFRS becomes relevant for a medium-sized business at all – and when it does not
- explain the fundamental philosophical difference between HGB (Vorsichtsprinzip, creditor protection) and IFRS (fair value, investor interest)
- classify the HGB size categories under § 267 HGB and the conditions of § 315e HGB for an IFRS consolidated financial statement
- identify the most important differences between HGB and IFRS regarding inventories (IAS 2), provisions (IAS 37) and leasing (IFRS 16)
- contrast the basic principle of the Percentage-of-Completion method (IFRS 15) with the HGB realisation principle and ask the right questions in a conversation with an auditor, investor or bank
How the course works
Eight lessons with approximately 130 minutes of reading time, completable in any number of sessions, using the consistently fictitious example business "Rehbach Präzisionsguss GmbH", which is explicitly identified as invented. The legal position and threshold values are cited with sources (including gesetze-im-internet.de, DRSC, IFRS Foundation, as at 17.09.2026). A self-test at the end: 20 questions, for self-assessment, repeatable any number of times. Upon completion, a certificate of participation is available as a PDF.
What the course is not
This is not an in-depth accounting qualification and does not constitute auditing or tax advice – it provides orientation knowledge for discussion, not the ability to prepare financial statements under IFRS yourself. No first-time adoption under IFRS 1, no consolidation techniques, no deferred taxes under IAS 12, and no connection to the export business courses – financial reporting and foreign trade law are independent topics.