The International Accounting Standards Board has issued a new international financial reporting standard titled, "Financial Instruments: Disclosures," as well as an amendment to its "Presentation of Financial Statements" discussing capital disclosures.
The new standard (IFRS No. 7) introduces requirements to improve the information on financial instruments that is given in entities' financial statements, and the amendment (IAS No. 1) introduces requirements for disclosures about an entity's capital.
In developing these proposals, the IASB worked with an expert advisory group, the Financial Activities Advisory Committee. The committee's members have experience and expertise in banks, finance companies and insurance companies, and include auditors, preparers and regulators. Their role was to provide input from their perspective at entities with large exposures to financial instruments.
"The board believes that the introduction of IFRS 7 will lead to greater transparency about the risks that entities run from the use of financial instruments," said IASB chairman Sir David Tweedie, in a statement. "This, combined with the new requirements in IAS 1, will provide better information for investors and other users of financial statements to make informed judgements about risk and return."
More information on the documents is available at the board's Web site, www.iasb.org.
