The requirements in International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), in particular in IAS 8 Accounting Policies, Changes in Accounting Estimates and Errors, make a distinction between how an entity should present and disclose different types of accounting changes in its financial statements.

Currently, requirements for presentation and disclosure of a change in an accounting policy are much stricter than for a change in an accounting estimate. The requirements for changes in accounting policies aim to make a company’s financial statements comparable over time.

In practice, however, companies sometimes struggle to apply changes in accounting policies retrospectively. It is also not always easy to see a distinction between changes in accounting policies and accounting estimates (which are accounted for prospectively).

Organismo Italiano Contabilità (OIC) is helping the IASB to understand investor views on accounting changes by conducting a short survey that you can find here.

THIS SURVEY SHOULD NOT TAKE MORE THAN 15 MINUTES. IT SHOULD BE COMPLETED BY 15 FEBRUARY 2015.

All responses will be treated in confidence on a non-attributed basis.

Thank you in advance for your time and help with this survey.

About the survey

This survey is for investors and analysts. It is designed to help us understand:

• the type of financial statement information you need when a company makes an accounting change;

• whether the type of the change affects your information needs; and

• whether there is more than one way companies could provide you with information about accounting changes that would still satisfy your needs.