Introduction

International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) commences second comprehensive review of the International Financial Reporting Standard for Small and Medium-sized Entities (IFRS for SMEs). IFRS for SMEs Standard are applied for general purpose financial statements of small companies, primarily; small and medium-sized entities (SMEs), private entities and non-publicly accountable entities, which is required or permitted in 86 jurisdictions across the globe. This Standard is based on full IFRS with modifications to reflect the needs of users of SMEs’ financial statements and cost-benefit considerations. It focuses on the information needs of lenders, creditors and other users of SME financial statements who are interested primarily in information about cash flows, liquidity and solvency.

The first comprehensive review of the IFRS for SMEs Standard commenced in 2012, an amended Standard was issued in 2015 and became effective on 1 January 2017.

In the second comprehensive review, IASB is seeking views on its approach in updating the IFRS for SMEs Standard. The objective of the consultation (Request for Information) is to seek views on whether and how to align the IFRS for SMEs Standard with full IFRS Standards (Standards developed for publicly accountable entities) without causing undue cost for entities applying the Standard.

In view of criticality of the topic, the ASB of ICAI also proposes to organise Outreach programmes across different locations (further details to be announced in due course) to gather views on the above Request for Information.

Invitation to comment

ASB invites comments on the Request for Information from the public. The downloadable version is available at: https://resource.cdn.icai.org/58809asb47898.pdf

How to comment

Comments should be submitted using one of the following methods, so as to be received not later than May 30, 2020.