The Accounting Standards Board (ASB) has today issued a Financial Reporting Exposure Draft (FRED) of Improvements to Financial Reporting Standards so as to maintain the existing levels of convergence between UK and International Financial Reporting Standards.

The ASB conducts an annual review of its standards. The proposals set out in the FRED arise as a consequence of the International Accounting Standards Board’s (IASB) annual improvements process. Proposals are also developed to respond to specific issues raised by the ASB’s constituents. In particular, the FRED includes a proposal to strengthen the disclosure requirements for asset impairments.

The ASB has also decided to simplify the improvement process by not including minor editorial corrections in the FRED but to list these on its website. This is consistent with the practice the IASB follows.

The comment period for the FRED closes on 30 September 2009.

1. The ASB is an operating body of the The Financial Reporting Council (FRC), the UK’s independent regulator responsible for promoting confidence in corporate reporting and governance. Its functions are exercised principally by its operating bodies (the Accounting Standards Board, the Auditing Practices Board, the Board for Actuarial Standards, the Financial Reporting Review Panel, the Professional Oversight Board and the Accountancy and Actuarial Discipline Board) and by the FRC Board. The Committee on Corporate Governance assists the Board in its work on corporate governance.
2. The main role of the ASB is to issue accounting standards. The ASB collaborates with accounting standard-setters from other countries and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) both in order to influence the development of international standards and in order to ensure that its standards are developed with due regard to international developments.
3. The ASB has eleven Board members, of whom two (the Chairman and the Technical Director) are full-time, and the remainder, who represent a variety of interests, are part-time.
4. Editorial corrections can be accessed on the ASB website at www.frc.org.uk/asb.
5. The FRED is available free of charge on the ASB’s website at: http://www.frc.org.uk/asb/technical/projects/project0075.html. Hard copies are available, price £10.00 (post-free) from ASB Publications, 145 London Road, Kingston Upon Thames, Surrey, KT2 6SR (020 8247 1274). Web: www.frcpublications.com. 
6. Press enquiries should be directed to Ian Mackintosh (Chairman) on 020 7492 2434, David Loweth (Technical Director) on 020 7492 2420 or Mario Abela (Project Director) on 020 7492 2442.