Field work on the leases project
On 17 August the IASB and the US FASB (the boards) published for public comment joint proposals to improve the financial reporting of lease contracts. The proposals, if adopted, will greatly improve the financial reporting information available to investors about the financial effects of lease contracts.
As a part of their outreach on the leases project, the boards are conducting field work to test whether the proposals are operational as well as the costs and benefits of their proposed requirements.
The boards would like both those who prepare financial statements (preparers) and those who use financial statements to make investment decisions (users) to contribute. Consequently, the field work comprises preparer and users parts. All information obtained will be confidential and will not be used on an entity basis externally.
In the preparer part of the field work, the boards are surveying organisations on their use of, and accounting for, leases. This questionnaire is designed to help inform the boards about those activities. Completing the questionnaire does not require knowledge of the boards’ proposals. In addition, the boards are asking for volunteers to participate in limited conversion of financial information and workshops to discuss the results with the boards. For more details, click here.
In the user part of the field work, the boards will ask users of financial statements to review a set of fictitious financial statements before and after the application of the proposals and answer a set of questions. This part of the field work will begin in late October. More details will be posted nearer the time. To volunteer for the user portion of the field work, please contact Aida Vatrenjak at avatrenjak@ifrs.org or Danielle Helmus at dehelmus@fasb.org.