Model IFRS financial statements for 2008

Grant Thornton has recently issued a new publication Granthor Corporation Group Example Consolidated Financial Statements 31 December 2008.

This is a hypothetical set of financial statements under IFRS right up to date as of December 31 2008. It is very thorough and the disclosures are cross referenced to the applicable IFRS. The document is current as of the end of 2008. I will use my usual caveat that you should be very careful in using these reference documents. First, the disclosures and accounting can be very different in different factual situations. Second, these reference documents can become out of date. If you bookmark this document for future reference please ensure that you seek an updated version and you are aware of current developments.

It is a useful reference in your arsenal for researching IFRS problems. All in all the document consists of over 100 pages. This is a reminder to expect an explosion of disclosure under IFRS!

There are 3 Appendices in the document that provide additional useful information.

Appendix A shows the results under the alternative of presenting the income statement by function of expense rather than nature of expense as shown in the main body.

Appendix B shows the presentation of segmented results under IAS 14 rather than the more current IFRS 8. Either presentation would be acceptable at the December 31 2008 year end.

Appendix C shows the income statement in one statement rather than two statements. Under IAS 1 the statement of comprehensive income can be presented a two statements - the statement of income and the statement of comprehensive income (as shown in the main body of the model statements). Alternatively, the two financial statements may be combined into one as shown in the Appendix.

This is a useful reference for students and practitioners alike and can be downloaded from the link in the first paragraph in this post.