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Financial Reporting Framework For Small And Medium Sized Entities

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I. INTRODUCTION In June of 2013, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants issued the “Financial Reporting Framework for Small and Medium-Sized Entities”, or FRF for SMEs. This option was developed due to the frustrations of the Financial Accounting Foundation focusing on public companies and disregarding the differences for financial reporting for private companies (Briggs Jr., 2013). FRF for SMEs includes key features specifically for these private companies. These features consist of the following. The foundation of the framework comes from reliable and comprehensive accounting principles. The framework uses historical cost as opposed to fair value. FRF for SMEs also allows for less disclosures, but includes relevant …show more content…

· The entity is for-profit · The owners and management have no intention of going public · The entity is a closely held company in which those owing a controlling interest in the entity are substantially the same as those running the company · Management and owners rely on the financial statements to assess performance and confirm cash flows and what the company owns and owes · The entity does not engage in overly complicated transactions · The entity does not have significant foreign operations · Key users of the entity’s financial statements have direct access to the entity’s management. · Users of the financial statements may have greater interest in cash flows, liquidity, statement of financial position strength, and interest coverage. · The financial statements support applications for bank financing when the banker does not base a lending decision solely on the financial statements but also on available collateral or other evaluation mechanisms not directly related to the financial statements If the entity checks off multiple characteristics, the FRF for SMEs might work better for the entity than GAAP. IV. HISTORICAL COST VERSUS FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS The use of historical cost over fair value measurements creates a major difference between FRF for SMEs and other frameworks. Under the historical cost method, the entity recognizes transactions and events at the amount of cash or cash equivalents paid or received when the transaction took place. The method

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