Accounting Standards for Small and Medium-sized Entities

Date recorded:

The Board reviewed and affirmed the summary of tentative decisions that the Board had made in December 2004 on the appropriate way forward for the project. The Board agreed to clarify, in the summary, that the same IASB Framework should apply to all entities. However, the Board should consider recognition and measurement simplifications for SMEs, as well as disclosure and presentation simplifications, based only on user needs and cost-benefit considerations as provided for in the IASB Framework. There should be no preconceived objections to such changes.

The staff has developed a project plan that includes:

  • expanding the Advisory Group by adding preparers and users of SME financial statements; organising round-table meetings with preparers and users of SME financial statements;
  • soliciting the views of the Standards Advisory Council;
  • holding a meeting of the Advisory Group;
  • leveraging several upcoming conferences at which SME accounting issues will be addressed.

A meeting of the Board's internal SME subcommittee has been scheduled to discuss the plan and provide guidance to the staff.

Several Board members proposed that another name or title for this project should be considered, as the 'SME' title was causing an expectation gap. Staff will provide recommendations to the Board at a future meeting.

Correction list for hyphenation

These words serve as exceptions. Once entered, they are only hyphenated at the specified hyphenation points. Each word should be on a separate line.