Sheer volume of IFRS data risks obscuring key disclosures says E&Y

News Article - 07 September 2006
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Crucial data is at risk of being obscured by the sheer volume of information required under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), Ernst and Young has warned.

Around 8,000 companies in the EU had successfully implemented IFRS, Ernst and Young said, but consistency and comparability across reporting remained far off.

"We believe bold measures are needed to improve transparency and ease of understanding and to reduce the number of required disclosures," said David Lindsell of Ernst and Young.

"Greater emphasis needs to be placed by preparers of financial statements on explaining the key judgments applied in determining amounts reported, including the sensitivities around those judgments.

"At the same time, we need to look at financial statement disclosures on an overall, not on an item-by-item basis. Like recognition and measurement requirements, disclosures should be principle, not rule based," he added

The responsibility was now on national regulators, advisors and corporate managers to agree best practice and to remove inconsistencies said the report.

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