Iasb Qualitative Characteristics

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The IASB has four principal qualitative characteristics; they are relevance, reliability, comparability and understandability. Compare these to the FASB qualitative characteristics of relevance, reliability, comparability and consistency. Comparing the characteristics that the IASB and the FASB have in common, as well as trying to combine them into a more complete model is a very difficult task. Take for instance relevancy, relevancy for the FASB is based on the information being timely. This is so business stakeholders can make solid decisions without using old information. The information is expected to include only transactions included in specific accounting periods to help with trend analysis. The IASB believes that for the information to be useful it must be pertinent to the decision-making needs of the users. It is considered relevant when it influences the economic decisions of users by helping them evaluate past, present and future events. The IASB also feels that the relevance of information is affected by its nature and materiality. Reliability per the FASB states that the information is free from bias or opinion so assure that it is accurate and valid, the IASB is much more in-depth stating that it is free from material error and bias. This includes faithful representation, substance over form, neutrality, completeness and prudence. Both frameworks have comparability as one of their qualitative characteristics, the FASB states this is the ability to compare one company’s information to another company’s while the IASB says comparability is being able to compare and entity through time to identify its trends as well as different entities. The two characteristics that differ from the other framework are consistency which the FASB states ensures the information is prepared the same way each month or accounting period, while the IASB

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