Disclosures

Project Status

This is an active initiative.

Staff

Beverley Bahlmann

Task Force

John (Arch) Archambault, Chair, IAASB Member
Cédric Gélard, IAASB Member
Tomokazu Sekiguchi, IAASB Member
Bruce Winter, IAASB Member

Objective(s) of project

The objective of this initiative is to assist the IAASB to gain a robust understanding of the views and perspectives on issues relevant to auditing disclosures in a financial statement audit. These views will assist the IAASB to further deliberate on the need for a project on disclosures, including appropriate scoping of any future project in this area.

Background

In March 2010 the IAASB agreed the establishment of a Working Group to explore and catalogue the issues and concerns around the audit of disclosures.

Task Force progress / Board discussions to date

At its September 2010 meeting, the IAASB discussed and agreed that it is critical to obtain further information and perspectives on audit practice and priorities regarding disclosures in a financial statement audit before proceeding to a project proposal. It was further agreed that the Working Group would develop a Discussion paper to:

• Validate issues identified by the Working Group and to seek feedback on those issues with the goal of assisting the Working Group in formulating a clear, targeted project plan; and
• Provide a platform for the IAASB to participate in future discussions and international debate about the future of financial reporting relative to disclosures.

The Working Group presented a proposed Discussion Paper (DP) at the December 2010 IAASB meeting, with the objective to further explore the audit implications of financial reporting disclosure requirements. The IAASB agreed the issuance of the DP, and in January 2011 the DP, entitled The Evolving Nature of Financial Reporting: Disclosure and Its Audit Implications, was released. The comment period on the DP was open through June 1, 2011.

At the September 2011 meeting a very short summary of the responses received to the DP was provided to the IAASB. The Working Group was of the view that a mechanism to feed back the key messages from the comments would be useful, and proposed the preparation of a Feedback Statement for the Board’s consideration.

The draft Feedback Statement was approved at the December 2011 IAASB meeting. The Feedback Statement, released in January 2012 provides an overview of the key messages heard on identified issues from the DP, and provides thoughts and recommendations on what can be done to address them.

Next Steps

The IAASB is expected to consider the need for a project on disclosures, including the scope of the project, in late 2012.