The financial reporting arrangements of local authorities will be affected by the introduction of new accounting practices, it has been claimed.

Speaking to the Birmingham Post, PricewaterhouseCoopers partner and assurance expert Andy Hammond warned councils of the potential impacts of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), which must be used to prepare financial statements from next year.

He said it is vitally important that local authorities begin to adopt the new reporting standards as soon as possible, helping to ensure that problems are avoided with their 2010-11 accounts.

"Moving to IFRS can be a major project and will affect all areas of an organisation, not just the finance department," he claimed.

"Our experience from other parts of the public sector which have already converted to IFRS, is that the task is not to be underestimated."

Mr Hammond told the news provider that a failure to make a successful transition to IFRS could cause "significant reputational damage" to individual local government authorities.

The International Accounting Standards Board is responsible for governing the International Financial Reporting Standards.