Exposure Draft: Proposed Amendments to IAS 1

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has published for public comment an Exposure Draft (ED) outlining proposed amendments to IAS 1 Presentation of Financial Statements. It is open for comments until 23 July 2014. The ED proposes clarifying amendments to IAS 1 to address some of the concerns expressed about existing presentation and disclosure requirements and to ensure entities are able to use judgement when preparing their financial statements. The IASB proposes amendments in four areas that seem to impede the use of judgement:

• Materiality – clarifications that are aimed at emphasising (1) that information should not be obscured by aggregating or disaggregating information; (2) that materiality considerations apply to the all parts of the financial statements, and (3) that even when a Standard requires a specific disclosure materiality considerations do apply.
• Statement of financial position and statement of profit or loss and other comprehensive income – to introduce (1) a clarification that the list of line items to be presented in these statements can be disaggregated and aggregated as relevant and (2) additional guidance on subtotals in these statements.
• Notes – to clarify (1) that the understandability and comparability should be considered when determining the order of the notes and (2) that the notes need not be presented in the order listed in paragraph 114 of IAS 1.
• Accounting policies – to remove guidance and examples with regard to the identification of significant accounting policies that are perceived as being potentially unhelpful.

The IASB seeks feedback on the implementation of IFRS 3

The IASB has published a Request for Information (RfI) for review of experience with, and the effect of, implementing IFRS 3 ‘Business Combinations’. The RfI seeks feedback on whether the Standard provides information that is useful to users of financial statements, whether there are areas of the Standard that represent implementation challenges and whether unexpected costs have arisen when preparing, auditing or enforcing the requirements of the Standard. The Request for Information is open for comments until 30 May 2014.

IPSASB consults on long term strategy and work plan for public sector standards

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) has released a consultation document on its strategy and work programme for 2015-2019. The consultation document identifies a number of key influences on the future direction of the IPSASB, including an increased focus on public sector financial management resulting from the sovereign debt crisis.