Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting - FASB

1 Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting Chapter 8: Notes to Financial Statements This Exposure Draft of a proposed Statement of Financial Accounting Concepts is issued by the Board for public comment. Comments can be provided using the electronic feedback form available on the FASB website. Written comments should be addressed to: Technical Director File Reference No. 2014-200 Proposed Statement of Financial Accounting Concepts Issued: March 4, 2014 Comments Due: July 14, 2014 Notice to Recipients of This Exposure Draft of a Proposed Statement of Financial Accounting Concepts The Board invites comments on all matters in this Exposure Draft and is requesting comments by July 14, 2014.

2 Interested parties may submit comments in one of three ways: Using the electronic feedback form available on the FASB website at Exposure Documents Open for Comment Emailing a written letter to File Reference No. 2014-200 Sending written comments to Technical Director, File Reference No. 2014-200, FASB, 401 Merritt 7, PO Box 5116, Norwalk, CT 06856-5116. Do not send responses by fax. All comments received are part of the FASB s public file. The FASB will make all comments publicly available by posting them to the online public reference room portion of its website. An electronic copy of this Exposure Draft is available on the FASB s website.

3 Copyright 2014 by Financial Accounting Foundation. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to make copies of this work provided that such copies are for personal or intraorganizational use only and are not sold or disseminated and provided further that each copy bears the following credit line: Copyright 2014 by Financial Accounting Foundation. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Proposed Statement of Financial Accounting Concepts Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting Chapter 8: Notes to Financial Statements March 4, 2014 Comment Deadline: July 14, 2014 CONTENTS Paragraph Numbers Preface.

4 P1 P15 Background .. P1 P3 Developing the Conceptual Framework .. P4 P8 Authoritative Status of the Framework .. P9 P11 How This Chapter of the Framework Would Be Used .. P12 P15 Summary and Questions for Respondents .. S1 S6 Summary .. S1 S5 Questions for Respondents .. S6 Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting .. D1 D71 Chapter 8: Notes to Financial Statements .. D1 D71 Introduction .. D1 D2 Background from Other FASB Concepts Statements .. D3 D11 Types of Information in Notes to Financial Statements .. D12 D15 Limitations on Information in Notes to Financial Statements .. D16 D31 Information Content of Notes to Financial Statements.

5 D32 D42 Information about the Reporting Entity .. D43 D50 Information about Other Past Events and Current Conditions and Circumstances That Can Affect an Entity s Cash Flows .. D51 D59 Considerations Specific to Financial Statements for Interim Periods .. D60 D71 Appendix A: Decision Questions to Be Considered in Establishing Disclosure Requirements .. DQ1 DQ5 Introduction .. DQ1 DQ3 Information about Line Items .. DQ4 Paragraph Numbers Information about Other Past Events and Current Conditions and Circumstances That Can Affect an Entity s Cash Flows .. DQ5 Appendix B: Basis for Conclusions .. BC1 BC24 Introduction.

6 BC1 BC2 Notes to Financial Statements .. BC3 BC24 1 Preface Background P1. On July 8, 2009, the Board added the disclosure Framework project to its technical agenda with the goal of establishing an overarching Framework intended to make Financial statement disclosures more effective and coordinated and less redundant. The project was added in response to requests and recommendations received from several stakeholders, including the Investors Advisory Committee (formerly the Investors Technical Advisory Committee) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in its Final Report of the Advisory Committee on Improvements to Financial Reporting (Recommendations and ).

7 P2. In July 2012, the Board published for public comment an Invitation to Comment, Disclosure Framework . That Invitation to Comment contained a discussion of the Board s decision process for deciding on disclosures, flexible disclosure requirements, an entity s decision process related to those flexible requirements, and the organization and format of disclosures. The Invitation to Comment also included discussions related to interim Reporting and accounting policies. P3. The Board received 84 comment letters in response to the 2012 Invitation to Comment. This Exposure Draft represents the Board s views after considering respondents comments and the views received through other outreach initiatives, as well as the Board s reasons for modifying some of the views in that Invitation to Comment.

8 Developing the Conceptual Framework P4. The first Concepts Statement was issued in 1978, and a total of seven Concepts Statements were issued through the year 2000. In 2004, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the FASB began a joint project on the Conceptual Framework followed by the issuance in 2010 of FASB concepts statement no . 8, Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting Chapter 1, The Objective of General Purpose Financial Reporting , and Chapter 3, Qualitative Characteristics of Useful Financial Information. However, later in 2010, the Boards decided to postpone further action until after the completion of a number of key joint projects.

9 The IASB eventually decided to reactivate the project as an IASB project on the basis of the results of its 2011 Agenda Consultation. In September 2012, the IASB recommenced discussions related to the project. One of the five key items that the IASB anticipated being addressed in its Conceptual Framework project was disclosure. The IASB concluded that the Conceptual Framework project should include only high-level principles related to presentation and disclosure. More detailed work on presentation and disclosure 2 would be carried out in another project, the disclosure initiative. The IASB s Conceptual Framework project and the research phase of the disclosure initiative are intended to run concurrently with one another because of the complementary nature of the projects.

10 P5. The FASB concluded that a comprehensive reconsideration of all concepts would not be an efficient use of its resources. Many aspects of the IASB s Framework for the Preparation and Presentation of Financial Statements and the FASB s Statements of Financial Accounting Concepts are consistent with each other and do not seem to need fundamental revision. Instead, the FASB adopted an approach that focuses on the improvement of the existing Framework , giving priority to issues that are likely to yield standard-setting benefits in the near term. In January 2014, the FASB decided to reactivate work on the Conceptual Framework .