IASB publishes proposals to update its Accounting Standard for small and medium-sized entities

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) of the IFRS Foundation has today published proposals to update the IFRS for SMEs Accounting Standard to reflect improvements made to full IFRS Accounting Standards, while keeping the Standard suitable for small and medium-sized entities.

The IASB’s proposals include updating the principles of the Standard to align to those of The Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting issued in 2018 and simplified requirements based on IFRS 13 Fair Value Measurement and IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers.

The IASB is also proposing to update the Standard for new requirements in IFRS 3 Business Combinations, IFRS 9 Financial Instruments, IFRS 10 Consolidated Financial Statements and IFRS 11 Joint Arrangements. The proposed updates include other improvements made to full IFRS Accounting Standards since the second edition of IFRS for SMEs Accounting Standard was published in 2015.  

The proposals reflect feedback on the Request for Information published in 2020 as part of its Second Comprehensive Review of the Standard and the advice from the IASB’s SME Implementation Group. Stakeholders provided input on the framework for updating the Standard together with their views on whether and how the IASB should propose amendments to the Standard.

Andreas Barckow, Chair of the IASB, said:

The IFRS for SMEs Accounting Standard has always been about keeping accounting requirements as simple as possible and cost-effective for eligible companies. These proposed updates respond to the feedback on how to keep the Standard current while maintaining its simplicity.

The deadline for comments is 7 March 2023.

Access the documents

• Exposure Draft Third edition of the IFRS for SMEs Accounting Standard
• Basis for Conclusions and Illustrative Financial Statements on Exposure Draft Third Edition of the IFRS for SMEs Accounting Standard
• Snapshot: Exposure Draft Third edition of the IFRS for SMEs Accounting Standard
• Questions and Answers: Exposure Draft Third edition of the IFRS for SMEs Accounting Standard