From research to consultation: IPSASB’s Presentation of financial statements project

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) initiated a project in September 2023 to enhance the communication effectiveness of financial information in general purpose financial statements. This project aims to develop a new IPSAS to replace IPSAS 1, Presentation of Financial Statements. The project is currently in the consultation paper (CP) development phase.

Project objective

The primary objective of this project is to improve the presentation and understandability of financial statements of public sector entities. This involves considering the structure, location of information and overarching presentation principles. The ultimate goal is to provide clear, useful and relevant financial information to support accountability and decision-making in the public sector.

Recent milestones
In the recent meeting held in June, the IPSASB discussed and considered different approaches for the classification of assets and liabilities, the structure of the statement of financial position, and the presentation of specific line items on the face of the statement of financial position.

The IPSASB agreed that the statement of financial position should align with the private sector and require a current/non-current presentation approach. An alternative option to present the items as financial/non-financial was considered. The IPSASB concluded not to propose this approach due to the different definitions currently applied for “financial” and “non-financial” across jurisdictions and in existing literature.

⏳ Next steps

The IPSASB is continuing to draft and refine the CP and Illustrative Exposure Draft based on discussions with the task force. The review and approval of these documents are scheduled for future meetings. Discussions on the Statement of Financial Performance, Other Comprehensive Revenue and Expenses and the Statement of Changes in Net Assets/Equity will commence at the next meeting.

🌍📍 Local impact

There are no immediate changes to the requirements of the Standards of GRAP as a result of the IPSASB’s ongoing project on IPSAS 1, Presentation of Financial Statements.

Disclaimer

The article has been prepared by the Secretariat of the ASB for information purposes only. It has not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise acted on by the Board.