EFRAG: Final comment letter on the Report of the Trustees' Strategy Review

05 August 2011

EFRAG published its final comment letter in response to a request from the IFRS Foundation Trustees to respond to the Report of the Trustees' Strategy Review for public consultation 'IFRSs as the Global Standard: Setting a Strategy for the Foundation's Second Decade' (Strategy Review II).

At the end of April 2011 the IFRS Foundation issued a report of the Trustees' Strategy Review 'IFRSs as the Global Standard: Setting a Strategy for the Foundation's second decade'. This report provides the preliminary conclusions of the Trustees' Strategy Review and sets out the proposed recommendations following the earlier public consultation on the Status of the Trustees' Strategy Review issued in November 2010.

EFRAG welcomes the commitment of the Trustees to coordinate the conclusions of their review with the Monitoring Board arriving at an integrated set of proposals based on the Trustees' proposed recommendations and the final decisions reached by the Monitoring Board following its consultation.

EFRAG welcomes the emphasis on high quality global accounting standards, transparency and the focus on adoption rather than on convergence. EFRAG calls on the Trustees to strive for a period of calm in changes to accounting standards creating a stable platform of standards. EFRAG is in general supportive of the Trustees' proposed recommendations.

EFRAG has formulated a number of recommendations, notably: focusing on the need to direct the objective of financial reporting to the long-term perspective and stewardship; the need to identify separately requirements related to the financial statements; increasing Trustees' communication duties; need for evidenced based agenda setting; not integrating the development of the IFRS taxonomy in the IASB standard setting process;  creating a favourable environment for research rather than developing an own dedicated research capacity; and capitalising on the research of other organisations that undertake and sponsor accounting  research.

Press release

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