The Auditing Practices Board (APB), the audit standard setting body for the UK and the Republic of Ireland, has published a Consultation Draft of a Practice Note “Auditing derivative financial instruments”. Here the project director at the APB explains the thinking behind the guidance and...

International Accounting Standards are steadily becoming the norm. The European Union agreement that all listed companies in Europe must comply by the year 2005 has hastened the process further. This brings particular challenges for all organisations in the financial services world but for...

This position paper from the Financial Reporting Committee of The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales provides an update on the latest thinking on risk management within the corporate environment. It argues that directors should provide more information about their risk...

The nature of reported financial performance and financial disclosure is undergoing a dramatic change. The author argues that the issue of accounting for financial instruments and its emphasis on fair values goes to the heart of the problem. He argues that the thoughts provided by the AIMR...

Proposals for fair value measurement of all financial instruments in company financial statements have been subject to significant criticism. This article reviews the responses to the latest international proposals – those of the “Financial Instruments Joint Working Group of standard...

This is an edited text of the response submitted by the Financial Instruments Task Force of the Association for Investment Management and Research to the International Accounting Standards Board in response to the Joint Working Group Draft Standard and Basic Conclusions dated 22 December 2000....

The proposals on accounting for financial instruments developed by the Joint Working Group look as though they will take several years to sort out. In the meantime listed companies in Europe have to report under international standards by the year 2005. The author looks at how companies, and in...

Accounting for foreign currency hedges has become a fiercely complicated procedure. At a time when financial institutions are having to alter disclosure methods, the authors provide a practical guide to dealing with each type of hedging procedure.

The author analyses the recent history of financial reporting and shows that its complexities are inevitable. He sets out the basis for a fair value model stemming from a conceptual framework and argues that if financial reporting rules are to be correctly drawn from such a framework the...

The Internet financial reporting language known as XBRL continues to develop and has now reached the point where much of its promised benefits are available. The authors look at the history of this project, provide a case study of how Morgan Stanley has made use of the system and predict some...