Purpose: This paper aims to explore the challenges faced by accounting educators in their attempts to incorporate IFRS materials in their teaching and explores the impact of various factors (instructor's attitude, size of accounting department, teaching load, type of institution, teaching experience and teaching materials) on the time spent on teaching IFRS materials in undergraduate accounting programmes. Design/methodology/approach: A questionnaire survey was administered to faculty members working in Saudi Arabian universities, and interviews were held with a small number of such individuals in different universities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Findings: The results indicate that the instructor's attitude and availability of IFRS materials exert the most influence upon the time spent by teachers on the IFRS. They further find that departmental support, familiarity with IFRS, training and teaching experience in IFRS are positively associated with the time spent on teaching the IFRS. Originality/value: The important implication is that accounting educators must adapt their teaching practice in light of the increasing adoption of the global financial reporting standards.