FAR - Conceptual Framework and Financial Reporting Flashcards
Financial accounting and reporting is concerned w/providing…
relevant information to external users (e.g. investors, creditors etc)
3 aspects of financial reporting that GAAP addresses
- Recognition: A recognized item is recorded in an account, which ultimately affects the financial statements
- Measurement: Concerns the dollar amount assigned to an item
- Disclosure: Many unrecognized amounts are reported in the footnotes to complete the portrayal of the firm’s financial position and performance
3 accounting standard-setting mechanism in the US
- Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF)
- Financial Accounting Standard Board (FASB)
- Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council (FASAC)
Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF)
The FAF:
- Appoints members of the FASB
- Ensures adequate funding for the FASB
- Exercises oversight over the FASB
Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB)
The FASB is 1 of the 3 parts of the current accounting standard-setting body in the US.
The FASB is an independent body, subject only to FAF
Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council (FASAC)
FASAC provides guidance on major policy issues, project priorities, and the formation of task forces
The mission of the FASB
- Improve the usefulness of financial reporting
- Maintain current accounting standards
- Promptly address deficiencies in accounting standards
- Promote international convergence of accounting standards
- Improve the common understanding of the nature and purposes of info in the financial reports
Primary Qualitative Characteristics for information to be useful
- Relevance
- Faithful representation
For information to be useful for decision-making, it must be both relevant and a faithful representation of the economic phenomena that it represents
Relevance
Information is relevant if it makes a difference to decision-makers in their role as capital providers
- Predictive value
- Confirmatory value
- Materiality
Relevance - predictive value
Information has predictive value if it helps you form expectations about future events
Relevance - confirmatory value
Confirmatory value enables users to check and confirm earlier predictions or evaluations
Relevance - materiality
Information that’s material will impact a user’s decision
Faithful representation
Information is representationally faithful when it is:
- Complete
- Neutral
- Free from error
Faithful representation - completeness
Info is complete if it includes all data necessary to be faithfully representative
All of the information that a user needs in order to form a clear picture of the results, financial position, and cash flows of a business are included in the financial statements. This also means that no information is omitted that might have led a user to have a different opinion of the business.
Faithful representation - neutral
Info is neutral when it’s free from any bias intended to attain a prespecificed result or to encourage/discourage certain behavior
Faithful representation - free from error
Info is free from error if there are no omissions or errors
Enhancing Qualitative Characteristics
- Comparability
- Verifiability
- Timeliness
- Understandability
Enhancing characteristics - comparability
Comparability is the degree to which accounting standards and policies are consistently applied from one period to another.
Enhancing characteristics - verifiability
Information is verifiable if different knowledgeable and independent observers could reach similar conclusions based on the information
Enhancing characteristics - timeliness
Timeliness is how quickly information is available to external users. The less timely (thus resulting in older information), the less useful information is for decision-making.
Enhancing characteristics - understandability
Information is understandable if the user comprehends it w/in the decision context at hand.
Note, users are assumed to have basic understanding of business and accounting
Accounting Assumptions
- Entity
- Going-Concern
- Unit-of-Measure
- Time Period
Entity Assumption
We assume that there is a separate accounting entity for each business organization
More practical: business owner’s transactions and company’s transactions are kept separate
Going Concern Assumption
Organization is assumed to remain in business for the foreseeable future