Topic list Syllabus reference

Reporting period

It is normal for entities to present financial statements annually and IAS 1 states that they should be prepared at least as often as this. If (unusually) the end of an entity's reporting period is changed, for whatever reason, the period for which the statements are presented will be less or more than one year. In such cases the entity should also disclose:

1. 
   The reason(s) why a period other than one year is used
   
2. 
   The fact that the comparative figures given are not in fact comparable (IAS 1: para. 36)
   

For practical purposes, some entities prefer to use a period which approximates to a year, eg 52 weeks, and the IAS allows this approach as it will produce statements not materially different from those produced on an annual basis. (IAS 1: para. 37)

5. 
   Timeliness
   

If the publication of financial statements is delayed too long after the reporting period, their usefulness will be severely diminished. An entity with consistently complex operations cannot use this as a reason for its failure to report on a timely basis. Local legislation and market regulation imposes specific deadlines on certain entities.
IAS 1 looks at the statement of financial position and statement of profit or loss and other comprehensive income. We will not give all the detailed disclosures as some are outside the scope of your syllabus.
Instead we will look at a 'proforma' set of accounts based on the Standard.

FAST FORWARD J
2 Statement of financial position
IAS 1 suggests a format for the statement of financial position. Certain items are specified for disclosure on the face of the financial statements.
IAS 1 discusses the distinction between current and non-current items in some detail, as we shall see in the next section. First of all we can look at the suggested format of the statement of financial position (given in an appendix to the Standard) and then look at further disclosures required.

1.