Accounting Standards Board - Technical - Projects

Annual Improvements
This page was last reviewed in June 2009.

Related Documents

	FRS: Improvements to Financial Reporting Standards

	FRED: Improvements to Financial Reporting Standards 2009


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Current Status

IASB	ASB
IASB issued IFRS of Improvements to IFRS in April 2009	ASB issued FRED in June 2009
IASB issued ED August 2008 (2008/2009 Improvements)	ASB responded October 2008
IASB issued IFRS of Improvements to IFRS in May 2008 (2007/2008 Improvements)	ASB incorporated amendments in FRS of Improvements to Financial Reporting Standards issued December 2008

The ASB issued a FRED in June of proposed improvements to FRS. The comment period closes on 30 September.

Introduction

The Accounting Standards Board (ASB) uses the International Accounting Standards Board’s (IASB) annual improvement process as the mechanism for maintaining Financial Reporting Standards (FRS) that are converged with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

Background to IASB annual improvements process

The IASB has adopted an annual process to deal with non-urgent, minor amendments to IFRSs. The process involves an annual project in which the IASB discusses and decides on proposed improvements to IFRS as they arise. The IASB then aims to publish an omnibus exposure draft of the collected proposals for public comment in October each year, with a comment period of 90 days. After the IASB has considered the comments received, it will aim to issue the amendments in final form in the following April, with an effective date of 1 January of the following year.

Issues dealt with in this process arise from matters raised by the International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) and suggestions from staff or practitioners, and focus on areas of inconsistency in IFRS or where clarification of wording is required.

How the ASB addresses the IASB’s annual improvements process

The ASB has decided to adopt an annual improvements process that parallels that of the IASB. It will issue an exposure draft in the UK once the IASB has finalised it proposed amendments to IFRS. The ASB will endeavour to finalise any amendments to FRS by December each year.

The ASB notes that in recent years it has introduced as UK Financial Reporting Standards (UK FRS) a number of IFRS. In addition,the ASB has amended certain UK FRS to converge with IFRS. As a consequence UK FRS might be classified as follows:

Category A	UK only Financial Reporting Standards (e.g. FRS 1, FRS 19)
Category B	UK IFRS-based Financial Reporting Standards (e.g. FRS 26 FRS 29)
Category C	Amended UK Financial Reporting Standards (e.g. FRS 17)

In view of the various categories of UK FRS the ASB has decided the following:

a. improvements to IFRS that have been adopted in the UK should be proposed as amendments to the equivalent UK IFRS-based standard (category B would remain converged);

b. improvements to IFRS where the corresponding UK FRS has been amended to converge with IFRS should be proposed as amendments to the equivalent UK FRS (category C); and

c. it should evaluate all of the IASB improvements and where inconsistencies with UK FRS are identified, consider whether to amend the relevant UK FRS.