The International Accounting Standards Board’s (IASB) Discussion Paper, “Financial Instruments with Characteristics of Equity” was issued in June 2018. The paper seeks to address the current application challenges with IAS 32 Financial Instruments: Presentation.
The Discussion Paper:
- sets out the IASB's preferred approach to classification of a financial instrument, from the perspective of the issuer; and
- explores enhanced presentation and disclosure requirements.
In responding to the challenges, the IASB is seeking to limit unnecessary changes to classification outcomes of IAS 32 that are already well understood, and that stakeholders say provide useful information.