The Institute of Chartered Accountants for England and
Wales (ICAEW) has called for a prompt implementation of the
revised proposal on the future
of financial reporting in the UK in order to remove an
outdated system.
The ICAEW said in its response to the UK
Accounting Standards Board (ASB) draft, The Future of Financial
Reporting in the UK and ROI, that the proposed changes to UK
GAAP are “broadly fit for purpose”.
“Existing UK GAAP is out-dated and
rather incoherent, and a replacement is long overdue. Many people,
ICAEW included, had some serious concerns about the last set of
proposals. But the ASB has conducted a robust further consultation
and responded to these concerns,” ICAEW’s Financial Reporting
Faculty head Nigel Sleigh-Johnson said.
The ASB had to reissue its proposal at the
beginning of the year following wide-spread opposition by
stakeholders to the first draft.
Sleigh-Johnson said the ASB should be looking
to resolve Financial Reporting Standards for Smaller Entities
(FRSSE) simultaneously.
“We recognise that the standard setter is
hamstrung by developments in Brussels – the reform of the EU
Accounting Directive – but leaving the current FRSSE in place
reduces the potential benefits of creating a more comprehensive,
coherent and internationally-aligned UK accounting regime,” Nigel
Sleigh-Johnson said.
The revised ASB’s proposal was open for
comment until 30 April and the standard setter says it will issue a
new UK financial reporting framework by the end of the year.
