07/07/2015 - EFRAG document for public consultation on the IASB ED Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting

The IASB issued the Exposure Draft Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting (the 'ED') on 29 May 2015, with comments due by 26 October 2015. Today EFRAG has published a document where it seeks constituents' views on the issues related to the ED. The positions expressed in the document have been reviewed and approved by the EFRAG Board as a basis for public consultation. The EFRAG Board will nevertheless pursue deliberations of the most critical issues during the comment period before forming preliminary views.

The view presented considers that the Conceptual Framework would fail to meet European expectations as it lacks guidance, in particular on the controversial issues that have repeatedly been discussed in the past, i.e. on how to select a measurement and how to report performance, including what should be reported in profit or loss and when. Whilst the greater emphasis given to stewardship and the reintroduction of prudence are welcome, the ED remains unsatisfactory in these two areas. Finally, the ED reflects in particular in its basis for conclusions that the revision of the Conceptual Framework should be the opportunity to reach a common understanding with constituents of what constitutes a reliable measurement, instead of relabelling and redefining the qualitative characteristics of relevance and reliability.

EFRAG requests comments on the document by 26 October 2015.