Reducing The Disclosure Burden

UK groups that are either required to or choose to prepare their financial statements in accordance with IFRS have often elected to present the individual company and subsidiary accounts in accordance with UK GAAP.

There are a number of reasons why companies may have chosen UK GAAP in these circumstances. However, many have found that the absence of any available disclosure exemptions in IFRS resulted in a time and cost burden that outweighed the possible savings from using a consistent set of accounting standards across the group.

Recognising that it would be more cost effective if companies only had to maintain accounting records in accordance with one reporting framework, the ASB has proposed disclosure exemptions that will apply to a large proportion of subsidiaries and parent entities.