Nieuws 05 juni 2009

Brits discussierapport over complexiteit verslaggeving

De Financial Reporting Council (FRC), de Britse toezichthouder op financiële verslaggeving, heeft een discussierapport gepubliceerd met aanbevelingen om te komen tot een vermindering van de complexiteit van jaarverslagen. Jaarverslagen zijn volgens veel gebruikers nu te dik en te gedetailleerd.

In het rapport wordt uitgegaan van acht basisprincipes. Vier daarvan gaan over de communicatie-aspecten van jaarverslagen, de andere vier moeten de kwaliteit en effectiviteit van de regelgeving bevorderen: 

Effectieve communicatie

1. Focused Highlight important messages, transactions and accounting policies and avoid distracting readers with immaterial clutter.
2. Open and honest Provide a balanced explanation of the results - the good news and the bad.
3. Clear and understandable Use plain language, only well defined technical terms, consistent terminology and an easy-to-follow structure.
4. Interesting and engaging Get the point across with a report that holds the reader's attention.

Minder complexe regelgeving

1. Targeted Understand the problem Regulations should focus on significant problems and be targeted to:
   • Provide relevant information that meets important user needs
   • Reflect the reality of the business while minimising unintended implementation consequences.
2. Proportionate Balance the costs and benefits of regulation Regulators should limit constant change by intervening only when an area is high-risk and change will bring obvious benefit. Intervention should be as cost effective as possible - for example, by using management information already produced for internal purposes.
3. Coordinated Consider what other regulators are doing Regulators should understand what other national and international regulators are doing in a particular area. Wherever possible, they should be consistent with one another and work together in a joined-up way.
4. Clear Deliver an understandable solution Being clear means keeping regulations simple and user-friendly. They need to be understood easily by those who will apply them and those who will benefit from them. Regulations should emphasise:
   • A clear articulation of the desired outcome
   • Principles and judgement where appropriate
   • Plain language with well defined terms
   • Consistent terminology
   • An easy-to-follow structure.

Daarnaast benoemt de FRC vijf punten die nadere onderzoek rechtvaardigen, omdat deze punten ook kansen bieden om de complexiteit te beteugelen: 

1. Cash flow and net debt reporting: could this be better aligned with user needs such as by including a net debt reconciliation?
2. Wholly owned subsidiaries reporting requirements: could we find ways to reduce the reporting burden such as by reducing the filing or disclosure requirements?
3. Cut clutter: could preparers reduce immaterial information (with the support of regulators) that may be undermining the quality of reports?
4. Disclosures: could we overhaul the process for creating disclosures and provide guidance about when they can be deleted as not relevant?
5. IFRS: could we improve usability through logical organisation and clearer articulation of the desired outcomes for each standard?