How are assets and liabilities presented in the statement of financial position?

IAS 1 sets out overall requirements for the presentation of financial statements, guidelines for their structure and minimum requirements for their content. It requires an entity to present a complete set of financial statements at least annually, with comparative amounts for the preceding year [including comparative amounts in the notes]. A complete set of financial statements comprises:

• a statement of financial position as at the end of the period;
• a statement of profit and loss and other comprehensive income for the period.  Other comprehensive income is those items of income and expense that are not recognised in profit or loss in accordance with IFRS Standards.  IAS 1 allows an entity to present a single combined statement of profit and loss and other comprehensive income or two separate statements;
• a statement of changes in equity for the period;
• a statement of cash flows for the period;
• notes, comprising a summary of significant accounting policies and other explanatory information; and
• a statement of financial position as at the beginning of the preceding comparative period when an entity applies an accounting policy retrospectively or makes a retrospective restatement of items in its financial statements, or when it reclassifies items in its financial statements.

An entity whose financial statements comply with IFRS Standards must make an explicit and unreserved statement of such compliance in the notes. An entity must not describe financial statements as complying with IFRS Standards unless they comply with all the requirements of the Standards. The application of IFRS Standards, with additional disclosure when necessary, is presumed to result in financial statements that achieve a fair presentation. IAS 1 also deals with going concern issues, offsetting and changes in presentation or classification.

In April 2001 the International Accounting Standards Board [Board] adopted IAS 1 Presentation of Financial Statements, which had originally been issued by the International Accounting Standards Committee in September 1997. IAS 1 Presentation of Financial Statements replaced IAS 1 Disclosure of Accounting Policies [issued in 1975], IAS 5 Information to be Disclosed in Financial Statements [originally approved in 1977] and IAS 13 Presentation of Current Assets and Current Liabilities [approved in 1979].

In December 2003 the Board issued a revised IAS 1 as part of its initial agenda of technical projects. The Board issued an amended IAS 1 in September 2007, which included an amendment to the presentation of owner changes in equity and comprehensive income and a change in terminology in the titles of financial statements. In June 2011 the Board amended IAS 1 to improve how items of other income comprehensive income should be presented.

In December 2014 IAS 1 was amended by Disclosure Initiative [Amendments to IAS 1], which addressed concerns expressed about some of the existing presentation and disclosure requirements in IAS 1 and ensured that entities are able to use judgement when applying those requirements. In addition, the amendments clarified the requirements in paragraph 82A of IAS 1.

In October 2018 the Board issued Definition of Material [Amendments to IAS 1 and IAS 8]. This amendment clarified the definition of material and how it should be applied by [a] including in the definition guidance that until now has featured elsewhere in IFRS Standards; [b] improving the explanations accompanying the definition; and [c] ensuring that the definition of material is consistent across all IFRS Standards.

In January 2020 the Board issued Classification of Liabilities as Current or Non-current [Amendments to IAS 1]. This clarified a criterion in IAS 1 for classifying a liability as non-current: the requirement for an entity to have the right to defer settlement of the liability for at least 12 months after the reporting period.

In July 2020 the Board issued Classification of Liabilities as Current or Non-current—Deferral of Effective Date which deferred the mandatory effective date of amendments to IAS 1 Classification of Liabilities as Current or Non-current to annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2023.

Other Standards have made minor consequential amendments to IAS 1. They include Improvement to IFRSs [issued April 2009], Improvement to IFRSs [issued May 2010], IFRS 10 Consolidated Financial Statements [issued May 2011], IFRS 12 Disclosures of Interests in Other Entities [issued May 2011], IFRS 13 Fair Value Measurement [issued May 2011], IAS 19 Employee Benefits [issued June 2011], Annual Improvements to IFRSs 2009–2011 Cycle [issued May 2012], IFRS 9 Financial Instruments [Hedge Accounting and amendments to IFRS 9, IFRS 7 and IAS 39] [issued November 2013], IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers [issued May 2014], Agriculture: Bearer Plants [Amendments to IAS 16 and IAS 41] [issued June 2014], IFRS 9 Financial Instruments [issued July 2014], IFRS 16 Leases [issued January 2016], Disclosure Initiative [Amendments to IAS 7] [issued January 2016], IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts [issued May 2017], Amendments to References to the Conceptual Framework in IFRS Standards [issued March 2018] and Amendments to IFRS 17 [issued June 2020].

How are the asset accounts presented in the statement of financial position?

How are current liabilities presented in the statement of financial position?

Where can we locate assets and liabilities in the statement of financial position?

Why assets and liabilities are presented separately in the statement of financial position?