Bearer Plants: Stakeholders’ View on the Appropriate Measurement Model

While the importance of agriculture to the global economy seems to be generally acknowledged, financial reporting in the agricultural sector still generates intense debates. Our paper contributes to the debate on fair value measurement of biological assets by focusing on the proposed amendments to IAS 16 and IAS 41 (through the Exposure Draft Agriculture: Bearer Plants – International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) (2013)). The IASB is faced with analyzing whether applying IAS 16 would lead to more decision-useful financial reporting information on bearer biological assets compared to the current requirements in IAS 41. It therefore becomes interesting, at this stage, to analyze the feedback received by the IASB (through the stakeholders’ comment letters involved in its due process) to the recently published Exposure Draft. After discussing the proposed amendments and putting them into context, we develop a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the point of view of stakeholders responding to IASB’s call for comment letters. The implications of IASB’s forthcoming decision in relation to the proposed amendments, as well as stakeholders’ involvement, should be considered in the light of International Financial Reporting Standards’ (IFRS) widespread around the world.