The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), responsible for International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), responsible for US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP), today jointly issued a converged Standard on the recognition of revenue from contracts with customers. The Standard will improve the financial reporting of revenue and improve comparability of the top line in financial statements globally.

 

Revenue is a vital metric for users of financial statements and is used to assess a company’s financial performance and prospects. However, the previous requirements of both IFRS and US GAAP were different and often resulted in different accounting for transactions that were economically similar. Furthermore, while revenue recognition requirements of IFRS lacked sufficient detail, the accounting requirements of US GAAP were considered to be overly prescriptive and conflicting in certain areas.

 

Responding to these challenges, the boards have developed new, fully converged requirements for the recognition of revenue in both IFRS and US GAAP—providing substantial enhancements to the quality and consistency of how revenue is reported while also improving comparability in the financial statements of companies reporting using IFRS and US GAAP.

 

Read the full press release.