Règles et principes comptables
Analyse sectorielle : Règles et principes comptables. Recherche parmi 300 000+ dissertationsPar dissertation • 31 Août 2014 • Analyse sectorielle • 4 703 Mots (19 Pages) • 710 Vues
Accounting rules and principles
1 Introduction
There have been major changes in financial reporting in recent years. Most
obvious is the continuing adoption of IFRS worldwide. Many territories have been
using IFRS for some years, and more are planning to come on stream from 2012.
For the latest information on countries’ transition to IFRS, visit pwc.com/usifrs
and see ‘Interactive IFRS adoption by country map’.
An important recent development is the extent to which IFRS is affected by
politics. The issues with Greek debt, the problems in the banking sector and the
attempts of politicians to resolve these questions have resulted in pressure on
standard-setters to amend their standards, primarily those on financial
instruments. This pressure is unlikely to disappear, at least in the short term. The
IASB is working hard to respond to this; we can therefore expect a continued
stream of changes to the standards in the next few months and years.
2 Accounting principles and applicability of IFRS
The IASB has the authority to set IFRSs and to approve interpretations of those
standards.
IFRSs are intended to be applied by profit-orientated entities. These entities’
financial statements give information about performance, position and cash flow
that is useful to a range of users in making financial decisions. These users
include shareholders, creditors, employees and the general public. A complete set
of financial statements includes a:
• balance sheet (statement of financial position);
• statement of comprehensive income;
• statement of cash flows;
• description of accounting policies; and
• notes to the financial statements.
The concepts underlying accounting practices under IFRS are set out in the IASB’s
‘Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting’ issued in September 2010 (the
Accounting rules and principles
3 | IFRS pocket guide 2013
Framework). It supersedes the ‘Framework for the preparation and presentation
of financial statements’ (the Framework (1989)). The Conceptual Framework
covers:
• Objectives of general purpose financial reporting, including information about
a reporting entity’s economic resources and claims.
• The reporting entity (in the process of being updated).
• Qualitative characteristics of useful financial information of relevance and
faithful representation and the enhancing qualitative characteristics of
comparability, verifiability, timeliness and understandability.
The remaining text of the 1989 Framework (in the process of being updated),
which includes:
• Underlying assumption, the going concern convention.
• Elements of financial statements, including financial position (assets,
liabilities and equity) and performance (income and expenses).
• Recognition of elements, including probability of future benefit, reliability of
measurement and recognition of assets, liabilities, income and expenses.
• Measurement of elements, including a discussion on historical cost and its
alternatives.
Concepts of capital and its maintenance. For the areas of the Conceptual
Framework that are being updated, the IASB has published an exposure draft on
the reporting entity and a discussion paper of the remaining sections; including
elements of financial statements, recognition and derecognition, the distinction
between equity and liabilities, measurement, presentation and disclosure, and
fundamental concepts (including business model, unit of account, going concern
and capital maintenance).
3 First-time adoption of IFRS – IFRS 1
An entity moving from national GAAP to IFRS should apply the requirements of
IFRS 1. It applies to an entity’s first IFRS financial statements and the interim
reports presented under IAS 34, ‘Interim financial reporting’, that are part of that
period. It also applies to entities under ‘repeated first-time application’. The basic
requirement is for full retrospective application of all IFRSs effective at the
Accounting rules and principles
IFRS pocket guide 2013 | 4
reporting date. However, there are a number of optional exemptions and
mandatory exceptions to the requirement for retrospective application.
The exemptions cover standards for which the IASB considers that retrospective
application could prove too difficult or could result in a cost likely to exceed any
benefits to users. The exemptions are optional. Any, all or none of the exemptions
may
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