St Barbara Mines Limited Annual Report 2004 Notes to the Financial Statements  for the year ended 30 June 2004 (x)  International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) 2. SEGMENT INFORMATION The Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) is adopting International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)  for application to reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2005. The AASB has issued Australian equivalents  to IFRS, and the Urgent Issues Group will issue interpretations corresponding to IASB interpretations originated by the  International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee or the former Standing Interpretations Committee.  The adoption of Australian equivalents to IFRS will be  fi  rst re fl  ected in the consolidated entity’s  fi  nancial statements  for the half-year ending 31 December 2005 and the year ending 30 June 2006. Entities complying with Australian equivalents to IFRS for the  fi  rst time will be required to restate their comparative  fi  nancial statements to amounts re fl  ecting the application of IFRS to that comparative period. Most adjustments  required on transition to IFRS will be made, retrospectively, against opening retained earnings as at 1 July 2004. Included in note 34 to the  fi  nancial statements is a reconciliation of Australian Generally Accepted Accounting  Principles (GAAP) to IFRS, which details signi fi  cant differences between the two as they relate to the consolidated  entity, based on IFRS which are currently applicable. This reconciliation is included as part of the requirements  of the company’s secondary listing on the Alternative Investment Market on the London Stock Exchange. In addition to the differences included in note 34, the adoption of IFRS on or after 1 January 2005 may result in further  differences as new IFRS become applicable. Major changes identi fi  ed as a result of the new IFRS and the consolidated  entity’s current accounting policies include: Equity-based compensation bene fi  ts Under AASB 2 Share based Payment, equity-based compensation to employees will be recognised as an expense  in respect of the services received. This will result in a change to the current accounting policy, under which no expense  is recognised for equity-based compensation. The reconciliation between AGAAP and IAS detailed at note 34 and the above should not be regarded as a complete  list of changes in accounting policies that will result from the transition to Australian equivalents to IFRS, as not all  standards have been analysed as yet, and some decisions have not yet been made where choices of accounting policies  are available. For these reasons, it is not yet possible to quantify the impact of the transition to Australian equivalents to  IFRS on the consolidated entity’s  fi  nancial position and reported results. The Consolidated Entity operates predominantly in the gold mining and exploration industry in Australia. The Consolidated Entity’s head of fi  ce is in Australia.