Reforming the conceptual framework for financial reporting

The objective of financial reporting is to provide financial information that is useful to investors and creditors in making their decisions about allocating their resources. Intangible assets are very difficult to integrate into current financial reporting framework due to some of their specific characteristics. The preparers of the most widely used International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) set the most important definitions and recognition criteria in the Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting. However, the application of these definitions and recognition criteria lead to a very limited set of intangible assets presented in financial statements. The IASB is currently running a project with the aim of reforming the Conceptual Framework. Revising the definition of an asset constitutes a part of this project. The standard setters (as always) place great emphasis on addressing the public and asking for the opinion of the profession during the course of the project of great importance. Opinions given by accounting professionals show great differences, but the fact is that financial reporting paradigm is presently undergoing essential changes. The significance of the Conceptual Framework project is that it affects such topics that are embedded in the core of the system (such as the definition of assets and recognition criteria). What is more, the process demonstrates such a new way of creating standards that incorporates the active role of the global audience of financial reporting. The aim of this paper is to summarize the reasons of why the reforming of the Conceptual Framework has become inevitable and to present the most recent development related to this field