Study finds cultural background and translation influence the interpretation of IFRSs
Nov 24, 2015
On November 24, 2015, the Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) and the Korea Accounting Standards Board (KASB) released their preliminary results on a joint research project on IFRS implementation they will be presenting at the seventh annual meeting of the AOSSG and the next ASAF meeting in December. The project explores how cultural background and translation affect the interpretation of the terms that are used in IFRS.
The two standard-setters make the following recommendations:
- considerable attention should be given to how terms might be interpreted and translated in different jurisdictions when developing a standard.
- the number of different terms used in standards should be narrowed down and consideration should be given to establishing a set of terms that can only be departed from in exceptional cases.
- If a set of "accepted" terms were to be developed, the process should include consulting with specialist linguists who have familiarity with IFRS.
- Standard-setting outreach and consultative processes should explicitly seek to obtain input on translation and interpretation issues in different jurisdictions.
The preliminary results are available on the IASB's Web site.