Development of the Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting in the Context of Digitalization

Abstract

The Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting, or IFRS Framework, has undergone many changes since its initial adoption. Amendments to the Conceptual Framework were due to various reasons that are related not only to the development of reporting data processing and presentation approaches, but also to changes in the global economic system, the emergence and development of modern data processing technology. The information technology development and the digital economy have a significant impact on the business units’ information system. The impact has resulted in a significant increase in the amount of business data used. With increased information availability, development of new processing methods and algorithms, the approaches to financial reporting need to be adjusted and modified. All changes to the basic principles of financial reporting have been included in the new version of the Conceptual Framework. It will come into force on January 1, 2020 for all business units developing their reporting policies under IFRS. The paper overviews the amendments and innovations introduced by the new version of this document. The Conceptual Framework dialectics has been reviewed based on all document versions since 1989. The paper is of practical importance and helps to assess various areas of system development of the IFRS methodology in the context of digital economy.