IASB seeks user views on the offsetting of assets and liabilities

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31 Jul, 2010

The IASB has released a questionnaire for financial statement users regarding the offsetting of financial assets and liabilities. The survey focuses on whether and how users of financial statements adjust for offsetting of financial instruments.

This project was added to the agenda at the June IASB-FASB meeting in response to stakeholder concerns (including those of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and the Financial Stability Board) about differences between IFRS and US-GAAP standards on balance sheet netting of derivative contracts and other financial instruments that can result in material differences in financial reporting by financial institutions.

The questionnaire is targeted at users of financial statements, requesting feedback in areas such as:

  • Which of gross or net values of financial asset and liability positions, and in particular derivatives, is useful for financial statement analysis
  • Whether gross or net values should be presented on the face of the statement of financial position (balance sheet)
  • When offsetting (netting) should be permitted (conditional or unconditional rights, different types of risk).

The deadline to complete the questionnaire is 20 August 2010. The questionnaire can be accessed through the IASB website. More information on the project is available in our Financial Instruments - Balance Sheet Offsetting project page.

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.