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Description :
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The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) and the Accounting Standards Board (UK ASB) of the FRC have published a Discussion Paper, ‘Considering the Effects of Accounting Standards’. The objective of the project is to contribute to improving the way in which accounting standard setters develop and implement standards. The proposals subject to discussion call on standard setters to consider the effects of accounting standards throughout their due process, from start to finish. Feedback from the consultation process will be used to assess support for the proposals and enhance them, so that they can form the basis of possible improvements to the International Standards Board’s (IASB) due process.
The issue of whether and how standard setters should take account of the wider effects, or consequences, of the accounting standards they develop has been a subject of debate for decades, without satisfactory resolution. The issue has received more attention in recent years with public policy makers around the world increasingly challenging the lack of evidence to support new accounting standards and to assess the effectiveness of those that have been implemented. This has led to the inclusion of a requirement for an analysis of the anticipated effects of a new IFRS or a major amendment to an IFRS in the ‘Due Process Handbook for the IASB’ (October 2008 version). Whilst acknowledging the progress that has been made by the IASB, the challenge remains as to how to best implement that requirement systematically in their due process. The Discussion Paper is an important step in addressing that challenge.
The comment period to the Discussion Paper closed 31 August 2011. EFRAG and the ASB have received 31 comment letters from a variety of respondents (national standard-setters, accounting bodies, business associations, private companies and individuals). EFRAG TEG discussed the comments received at their monthly meetings in October 2011 and directed the EFRAG staff develop a feedback statement to be issued in due course.
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