¶ … Reporting Accounting Information Systems: General Purpose Reporting According to the Conceptual Framework

The International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation and its development and publication arm, the International Accounting Standards Board, were created for the express and direct purpose of establishing standardized accounting and reporting procedures so as to make accounting knowledge and comparisons more meaningful. Since the creation of these entities, many specific issues have been raised and a host of suggestions, standards, and rules for the reporting of financial information have been adopted, such that the purpose of the Foundation and the Board are being well-served by these activities. In addition, certain general principles and regulations regarding accounting and financial reporting have been laid out, and the purpose of these principles will be discussed below.

General Reporting Principles

The IFRS Foundation and the IASB have published a framework for all of their activities that defines thee purpose and intent of all regulations, standards, and recommendations published by these entities (IASB 2008). The general purpose of this framework is clearly stated as the facilitation of "the consistent and logical formation of IFRSs [international financial reporting standards]" (IASB 2008, p. 64). This includes the "recognition, measurement, presentation and disclosure requirements" of general purpose financial statements and accounting practices, which can be seen as a necessary part of the IASB's mission (IASB 2008, p. 64).

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board, a group very similar in purpose and intent to the IFRS and the IASB though devoted to public entities rather than private...

An understanding of this parallel document helps to shed some light on the purpose behind the IFRS's own conceptual framework for general purpose accounting; as the IFAC (2010) puts it, the conceptual framework is meant to "establish and make explicit the concepts that are to be applied in developing" accounting standards and practices, in this instance for public sector entities (p. 3). The conceptual framework developed by the IFRS and IASB is similarly purposed: it defines the concepts and values of general accounting principles.
Because the framework lays out these general principles, it can be seen as a guide for the IASB in its development of future standards, whether they are specific to complex issues that arise in accounting and reporting activities, or are more general in and of themselves (Deloitte 2011). Within this framework, the purpose of the general purpose accounting standards is essentially to provide a similar guide to external entities -- whether they are public sector entities, governments themselves, or private corporations (Deloitte 2011). The entire purpose of the IFRS is to ensure that accounting principles are understood and applied in the same way by all entities (or at least all entities that fall under the jurisdiction of countries that have signed onto the IFRS), and this is largely achieved through these general purpose standards.

This edifying and standardizing purpose behind the general purpose accounting principles contained in the framework can also be seen from the interpretation of these principles and this framework by entities outside the IFRS. The framework and…