IFRS 1 First-time Adoption of IFRS discusses some of the challenges experienced by those who have already made the transition to IFRS.
The objective of IFRS 1 is to ensure that an organization’s first IFRS financial statements (and any interim financial reports for part of the period covered by those financial statements) contain high-quality information that:
- is transparent for users and comparable over all periods presented
- provides a suitable starting point for accounting under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)
IAS 1 Presentation of Financial Statements begins with a refresher on the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) Framework that sets the conceptual foundation for the rest of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs).
IAS 1 provides perhaps the clearest link to the IASB Framework for the Preparation and Presentation of Financial Statements (the Framework). The Framework is not a standard itself; rather, it sets out the concepts that underlie the preparation and presentation of financial statements for external users. Further, the Framework provides a common grounding for national and international standard setters, as well as financial statement preparers, users, and auditors. In this way, the Framework serves as a point of reference for preparers of financial statements in cases where no specific guidance is available in the IFRSs or IASs.