Requirement for a true and fair view — a UK standard-setter's perspective

Abstract

The article examines the usefulness of the true and fair view to preparers, users and standard-setters, arguing that it is a signpost to the relevance of the underlying commercial reality, a means of strengthening the reporting obligation of preparers, an escape route in unusual circumstances, a means of supplying direction and authority for development of existing requirements and a brake on the proliferation of detailed rules. It then goes on to consider the usefulness of the true and fair view in the specific context of regulating accounting for off balance sheet financing. It concludes by arguing that the true and fair view has the capability to help evolution of European accounting rules by providing an underlying concept and a degree of freedom to interpret rules which become obsolete. ‘Exactitude is not truth.' Henri Matisse ‘A truth is always a compound of two half-truths, and you never reach it, because there is always something more to say.' Tom Stoppard