Natural capital – what gets measured gets trashed?

A couple of years ago, I briefly addressed the subject of “natural capital,” defined (in one place anyway) as “the stock of renewable and non-renewable natural resources (e.g., plants, animals, air, water, soils, minerals) that combine to yield a flow of benefits to people…” At that time I referred to the “Natural Capital Protocol,” a…

IFRS 15 in action – part 4!

Let’s take a look at some other recent examples of changes resulting from the implementation of IFRS 15. This is from Teck Resources Limited: This is a good illustration of one of the standard’s basic conceptual building blocks: let’s briefly summarize. An entity recognizes revenue when (or as) it satisfies a performance obligation by transferring…

Principles of disclosure – of primary concern

Let’s return to the IASB’s Principles of Disclosure discussion paper, for which the comment period closed in October…. The discussion paper noted the following problem: The Board has received…feedback that some users of financial statements analyze the information in the statements listed in paragraph 3.3(a) (i.e. the balance sheet, income statement, statement of changes in…

The IASB’s conceptual framework – prudently stirred, but not shaken

Let’s take a look at another aspect of the IASB’s recently issued revised conceptual framework for financial reporting. The revised document contains the following much-debated paragraphs: Neutrality is supported by the exercise of prudence. Prudence is the exercise of caution when making judgements under conditions of uncertainty. The exercise of prudence means that assets and…

ASPE – the seductive alternative

I’ve found it difficult to identify much objective research or commentary on the overall effectiveness of Canadian Accounting Standards for Private Enterprises (ASPE). This is hardly a surprise, as it’s almost as hard to get a read on the real value of IFRS, which of course has much greater overall visibility in the market and…

IFRS 15 in action – part 3

Let’s take a look at some other recent examples of changes resulting from the implementation of IFRS 15. This is from UGE International Ltd.: I mentioned before that although the standard is called “Revenue from Contracts with Customers,” we may – who knows – identify some cases over time where the bottom-line impact flows as…

Principles of disclosure – what we talk about when we talk about financial statements

Let’s return to the IASB’s Principles of Disclosure discussion paper, for which the comment period closed in October…. The discussion paper carved out some space to describe an approach developed by the staff of the New Zealand Accounting Standards Board, with the following main features: (a) the inclusion of disclosure objectives, comprising an overall disclosure objective…