Making Financial Reporting Better – How has the ASB Responded?

The ASB has developed a comprehensive suite of Standards which entities have been applying for several years. Numerous activities were undertaken by the ASB to execute its mandate and responsibility to improve the quality of financial reporting by entities.
An essential process of standard setting is assessing the effectiveness of, and compliance with, the requirements in the Standards of GRAP once they have been adopted by entities. Periodic reviews of the Standards of GRAP are undertaken to identify application issues and assess whether they meet the current needs of users of financial statements. Depending on the results of the review, the Board may amend the Standards as a means to clarify, improve or simplify the requirements. Stakeholders stated that they had difficulties with the recognition and measurement of heritage assets. Consequently, a post-implementation review of GRAP 103 has been initiated and will be completed during 2020/2021.
Key projects have been completed under the current work programme to improve the relevance and quality of the information in the financial statements. The Board also responded to the need to improve the quality of the information in the financial statements through its outreach activities and communication platforms. These platforms are used to engage with stakeholders about addressing application issues and raising awareness about improving the quality of the information in the financial statements. The Secretariat has also issued FAQs on topical issues.

The views expressed in this article are those of Secretariat and not the ASB Board.