The UK Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC)
Accounting Standards Board (ASB) said the true and fair principal
is still of fundamental importance under UK GAAP and IFRS rejecting
the concerns conveyed by some stakeholders in the recent House of
Lords Economic Affairs Committee inquiry into the audit market.
The ASB’s paper, True and
Fair, found that the True and Fair principle is not merely a
separate add on to accounting standards.
The ASB said as result of compliance with
accounting standards there will be a true and fair view, “and
disagreement with a particular standard does not, on its own,
provide grounds for departing from it”.
“The whole essence of standards is to provide
for recognition, measurement, presentation and disclosure for
specific aspects of financial reporting in a way that reflects
economic reality and hence that provides a true and fair view,” the
paper said.
The ASB chairman Roger Marshall added the purpose
of the paper is to, “remind both preparers and auditors that the
true and fair requirement remains of fundamental importance in both
UK GAAP and IFRS”.
