The Accounting Standards Council (ASC) has submitted comment letters to the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) on Discussion Paper DP/2017/1 Disclosure Initiative–Principles of Disclosure which was issued in March 2017.
The main objective of this Principles of Disclosure project is to identify disclosure issues and develop new, or clarify existing, disclosure principles in IFRS Standards to address those issues and to:
(a) help entities to apply better judgement and communicate information more effectively;
(b) improve the effectiveness of disclosures for the primary users1 of financial statements; and
(c) assist the Board to improve disclosure requirements in Standards. (IN3)
The ASC has focused their comments on the specific questions in the DP. In summary, the ASC suggest that the IASB could consider the following approach as a starting point for further work:
A general disclosure standard
On the centralised disclosure objectives:
(a) The objectives as described in paragraph 8.7; and
(b) The objectives for providing the following information: (i) information as described in paragraphs 8.8(b)–(c) and 8.8(e)–(g); (ii) information such as the description of item, transaction, event or condition, and the changes in financial position, financial performance and cash flows.
Individual IFRS Standards
On the following in developing disclosure requirements:
(a) A two-tier approach to disclosures, based on the concept of materiality;
(b) For second-tier disclosure requirements, an explanation of the purpose of disclosures, how disclosures would contribute to standard-level disclosure objectives, and the circumstances in which disclosures should be made;
(c) An emphasis on the use of judgement in applying the disclosure requirements; and
(d) The use of less prescriptive wordings in the drafting of disclosure requirements.
The comments submitted can be viewed from the ASC website.
Source: ASC, 28 September 2017