Financial Statements Getting It Right 2

This document is an Accounting Standards Board (ASB) Secretariat information piece titled “Financial statements… getting it right – Part 2 – The ‘rules of the game’”. It explains that the Standards of GRAP set broad recognition, measurement, presentation and disclosure requirements for preparing financial statements, and that users benefit from understanding how entities apply these rules to their specific transactions and circumstances. It criticises generic accounting policies that merely repeat GRAP wording and gives an example for property, plant and equipment, stating what a good accounting policy should include (e.g., definitions, initial measurement basis, asset classes, revaluation approach and frequency). It also notes that only significant accounting policies that are material should be disclosed, and provides links to GRAP 1 and GRAP 3 and an ASB FAQ.