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Public Sector Accounting Standards

Exposure Draft – The Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting in the Public Sector

Summary

The Public Sector Accounting Board (PSAB) proposes, subject to comments received following exposure, to issue a revised Conceptual Framework that would include 10 chapters: 

  • Chapter 1: Introduction to the Conceptual Framework
  • Chapter 2: Characteristics of public sector entities
  • Chapter 3: Financial reporting objective
  • Chapter 4: Role of financial statements
  • Chapter 5: Financial statement foundations
  • Chapter 6: Financial statement objectives
  • Chapter 7: Financial statement information
  • Chapter 8: Elements of financial statements 
  • Chapter 9: Recognition and measurement in financial statements
  • Chapter 10: Presentation concepts for financial statements

The proposed Conceptual Framework would replace the conceptual aspects of FINANCIAL STATEMENT CONCEPTS, Section PS 1000, and FINANCIAL STATEMENT OBJECTIVES, Section PS 1100.

The proposals developed to date not only consider all of the feedback received from all the documents for comment issued (in 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2018), but they also consider international developments, PSAB’s proposals in other projects on its technical agenda, its strategic objectives and the Joint Working Group’s recommendations.

Staff Contact(s)

Michael Puskaric, MBA, CPA, CMA Director, Public Sector Accounting Board

Phone number  +1 416 204 3451
Email address  [email protected]

Background

PSAB is proposing changes to its existing conceptual framework and financial statement presentation standard because:

  • It is necessary for a standard setter to periodically review its conceptual framework to ensure it remains relevant.
  • Stakeholders asked PSAB to look at the existing conceptual framework to ensure it properly reflects and is grounded in the public sector environment.
  • Some standards-level issues made some stakeholders, such as the 2007-2009 Joint Working Group, question the foundations of public sector financial reporting and they asked PSAB to reconfirm their appropriateness.