Exposure Draft and comment letters—Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting

On 28 May 2015 the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) published for public comment an Exposure Draft proposing a revised Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting.  The proposals aim to improve financial reporting by providing a more complete, clearer and updated set of concepts that can be used by:

1. the IASB when it develops International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS); and
2. others to help them understand and apply those Standards.

This Exposure Draft:

1. is more complete than the existing Conceptual Framework because it addresses the following areas that are either not covered, or not covered in enough detail, in the existing Conceptual Framework:
   1. measurement;
   2. financial performance (including the use of other comprehensive income);
   3. presentation and disclosure;
   4. derecognition; and
   5. the reporting entity.
2. clarifies some aspects of the existing Conceptual Framework.  For example, this Exposure Draft:
   1. clarifies that the information needed to meet the objective of financial reporting includes information that can be used to help assess management’s stewardship of the entity’s resources;
   2. explains the roles of prudence and substance over form in financial reporting;
   3. clarifies that a high level of measurement uncertainty can make financial information less relevant;
   4. clarifies that important decisions on, for example, recognition and measurement, are driven by considering the nature of the resulting information about both financial performance and financial position; and
   5. provides clearer definitions of assets and liabilities and more extensive guidance to support those definitions.
3. updates the parts of the existing Conceptual Framework that are out of date.  For example, this Exposure Draft clarifies the role of probability in the definitions of assets and liabilities.

The Exposure Draft was open for comment until 26 October 2015.