Determining a Consistent Set of Accounting and Financial Reporting Standards A Research Note Based on the IASB-FASB Conceptual Framework Revision Project

Following the debate on the Conceptual Framework revision undertaken by the IASB and the FASB, this paper discusses three major concerns about the way financial reporting standards should be determined: (1) What is the role a Conceptual Framework?; (2) For whom and for which needs are accounting and financial reporting standards made?; and (3) What information set should financial reporting provide? We show that the perceived need of a Framework has resulted in practice in weak usefulness We note that arguments used in the IASB-FASB new Framework to justify the focus on the needs of capital providers are questionable and so is the hypothesis according to which the content of these financial statements should aim at providing useful information in making decisions about allocation of resources.