The resources listed below are intended to compliment our Closing Out 2015 publication and act as a reminder of the key areas within accounting and financial reporting to be focusing on during the 2015 reporting season. 

They include resources on the new UK GAAP framework that is effective for annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2015, a number of important messages from the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) for companies of all sizes including specific year-end advice to preparers of smaller listed and AIM-quoted annual reports, key messages from the Conduct Committee's Corporate Reporting Review Annual Report 2015 and a warning to FTSE 350 companies that tax disclosures will be the subject of the FRC’s Corporate Reporting Review Team in the coming year.  Also included are the press releases from the FRC's Conduct Committee over the last year to serve as a reminder of those areas that it has paid particular attention to in the past and will continue to focus on.  Companies seeking to improve their disclosures around dividend policy and distributable profits should look to the recently published report of the Financial Reporting Lab.

Banks should pay attention to the latest Enhanced Disclosure Task Force (EDTF) report and the Basel Committee's finalised guidance on accounting for expected credit losses.

In addition to the FRC reminders, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has also put out its own reminders to reporters as to how to improve the quality of disclosures in financial statements and has also provided an indication of those areas that it (and national enforcers) will be focusing on when reviewing listed companies' 2015 financial statements.  Also relevant for companies with securities traded on regulated markets are the ESMA final guidelines on alternative performance measures.

Reporters should be aware of the changes to UK reporting as a result of the UK implementation of the EU Accounting Directive, including the requirement that annual reports now disclose a list of related undertakings for accounts approved on or after 1 July 2015, and should also take note of new and revised Standards that are mandatorily effective for December 2015 year-ends.

• FRC reminders
• ESMA reminders
• EDTF guidance for banks
• Basel Committee's finalised guidance on accounting for expected credit losses
• New and revised IFRSs December 2015
• Related undertakings disclosure for accounts approved on or after 1 July 2015
• Changes as a result of the UK implementation of the EU Accounting Directive
• New UK GAAP