ACF 1101 Financial Accounting: Revised Conceptual Framework
ACF 1101 Financial Accounting: Revised Conceptual Framework
ACF 1101 Financial Accounting: Revised Conceptual Framework
Accounting
Week 2: The Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting
Academic Year 2020/21 Semester 1
Department of Business Finance
University of Peradeniya
• The conceptual framework is ‘a coherent system of interrelated objectives and fundamentals that
prescribes the nature, function, and limitations of financial reporting’.
• Also, it is an attempt to provide a structured theory of accounting that prescribes practice.
• A sound conceptual framework is essential to ensure the production of high quality financial reports
that meet the needs of their users.
Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting Cont.
● The framework is concerned with general purpose financial statements including consolidated financial
statements.
• Financial statements are part of the process of financial reporting. A complete set of financial statements
normally includes , Statement of Financial Position, Statement of Profit or Loss and other Comprehensive
Income, Statement of changes in equity, Statement of Cash flow and Notes to the Accounts.
● The framework applies to financial statements of all commercial, industrial and business reporting
enterprise, whether in the public or private sectors.
Purpose of the Framework
¤ The framework describes the objective of, and the concepts for general purpose financial reporting .
¤ The purpose of the framework is to:
(a) assist the Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (Council) to develop Sri
Lanka Accounting Standards (Standards) that are based on consistent concepts;
(b) assist preparers to develop consistent accounting policies when no Standard applies to a particular
transaction or other event, or when a Standard allows a choice of accounting policy;
(c) assist all parties to understand and interpret the Standards
¤ Framework
is a set of principles to be applied when preparing financial
statements.
Fundamental Enhancing
Characteristics Characteristics
Relevance Timeliness
Faithful Understandability
Representati
on
Comparability
Verifiability
Fundamental Qualitative Characteristics
Relevance: Relevant financial information is capable of making a difference in the
decisions made by users. Financial information is capable of making
a difference in decisions if it has;
Predictive value
Confirmatory value or both.
Materiality (entity-specific)
Faithful representation: Financial reports represent economic phenomena in
words and numbers. To be useful, financial information must not only
represent relevant phenomena, but it must also faithfully represent the
substance of the phenomena that it purports to represent.
To be a perfectly faithful representation, a depiction would have three
characteristics
Complete
Neutral (unbiased)
free from error (ideally)
Enhancing Qualitative Characteristics
• Comparability: Information about a reporting entity is more useful if it
can be compared with similar information about other entities and with
similar information about the same entity from another period or
another date. Consistency is not the same but related to comparability.
• Financial Statements
- Objective and scope of financial statements
The objective of financial statements is to provide financial information
about the reporting entity’s assets, liabilities, equity, income and expenses
that is useful to users of financial statements in assessing the prospects for
future net cash inflows to the reporting entity and in assessing
management’s stewardship of the entity’s economic resources.
- Reporting period
Financial statements are prepared for a specified period of time
(reporting period) and provide information about:
(a)assets and liabilities—including unrecognised assets and
liabilities—and equity that existed at the end of the reporting period,
or during the reporting period; and
(b) income and expenses for the reporting period.
Going Concern Assumption
• Going concern – Financial statements are normally prepared on
the assumption that the reporting entity is a going concern and will
continue in operation for the foreseeable future.
Reporting Entity
A reporting entity is an entity that is required, or chooses, to
prepare financial statements.
• Equity: The residual interest in the assets of the entity after deducting
all its liabilities.
Equity = Assets - Liabilities
Derecogniton
Measurement Bases
• Historical cost : The Price paid for an asset or for the event
which gave rise to the liability. This price will be constant.
Fair Value: The price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer
a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the
measurement date.
Value in use : Present Value of the cash flows, or other economic benefits, that
an entity expects to derive form the use of an asset and its ultimate disposal.
Current cost :Current cost, like historical cost, is an entry value. It reflects
prices in the market in which the entity would acquire asset or incur the
liability.
In Summary