Question

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Question:-
1a) The Singapore "Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting" on qualitative characteristics deals with the attributes that make financial information useful.
Explain the following 2 qualitative characteristics: (i) Relevance and (ii) Verifiability
1b)Under FRS 115 Revenue from contracts with customers an entity recognizes revenue over time when it transfers control of a good or service over time and, therefore, satisfies a performance obligation over time. For measuring progress towards complete satisfaction of a performance obligation over time, the entity can choose to use the output or input method. Explain and illustrate with suitable examples of what these methods are.

Answer 1

The Framework

Scope

The Framework addresses:

• the objective of general purpose financial reporting
• qualitative characteristics of useful financial information
• financial statements and the reporting entity
• the elements of financial statements
• recognition and derecognition
• measurement
• presentation and disclosure
• concepts of capital and capital maintenance

Chapter 1: The Objective of general purpose financial reporting

The primary users of general purpose financial reporting are present and potential investors, lenders and other creditors, who use that information to make decisions about buying, selling or holding equity or debt instruments, providing or settling loans or other forms of credit, or exercising rights to vote on, or otherwise influence, management’s actions that affect the use of the entity’s economic resources

Information about a reporting entity's economic resources, claims, and changes in resources and claims

Economic resources and claims

Information about the nature and amounts of a reporting entity's economic resources and claims assists users to assess that entity's financial strengths and weaknesses; to assess liquidity and solvency, and its need and ability to obtain financing. Information about the claims and payment requirements assists users to predict how future cash flows will be distributed among those with a claim on the reporting entity

Changes in economic resources and claims

Changes in a reporting entity's economic resources and claims result from that entity's performance and from other events or transactions such as issuing debt or equity instruments. Users need to be able to distinguish between both of these changes

Financial performance reflected by accrual accounting

Information about a reporting entity's financial performance during a period, representing changes in economic resources and claims other than those obtained directly from investors and creditors, is useful in assessing the entity's past and future ability to generate net cash inflows

Financial performance reflected by past cash flows

Information about a reporting entity's cash flows during the reporting period also assists users to assess the entity's ability to generate future net cash inflows and to assess management’s stewardship of the entity’s economic resources

Chapter 2: Qualitative characteristics of useful financial information

The qualitative characteristics of useful financial reporting identify the types of information are likely to be most useful to users in making decisions about the reporting entity on the basis of information in its financial report. The qualitative characteristics apply equally to financial information in general purpose financial reports as well as to financial information provided in other ways.

Fundamental qualitative characteristics

Relevance and faithful representation are the fundamental qualitative characteristics of useful financial information

Relevance

Relevant financial information is capable of making a difference in the decisions made by users. Financial information is capable of making a difference in decisions if it has predictive value, confirmatory value, or both. The predictive value and confirmatory value of financial information are interrelated.

Enhancing qualitative characteristics

Verifiability

helps to assure users that information represents faithfully the economic phenomena it purports to represent. Verifiability means that different knowledgeable and independent observers could reach consensus, although not necessarily complete agreement, that a particular depiction is a faithful representation.

1b)FRS 115 Revenue from contracts with customers

Financial Reporting Standard 115 Revenue from Contracts with Customers Objective

1 The objective of this Standard is to establish the principles that an entity shall apply to report useful information to users of financial statements about the nature, amount, timing and uncertainty of revenue and cash flows arising from a contract with a customer. Meeting the objective

2 To meet the objective in paragraph 1, the core principle of this Standard is that an entity shall recognise revenue to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services.

3 An entity shall consider the terms of the contract and all relevant facts and circumstances when applying this Standard. An entity shall apply this Standard, including the use of any practical expedients, consistently to contracts with similar characteristics and in similar circumstances.

4 This Standard specifies the accounting for an individual contract with a customer. However, as a practical expedient, an entity may apply this Standard to a portfolio of contracts (or performance obligations) with similar characteristics if the entity reasonably expects that the effects on the financial statements of applying this Standard to the portfolio would not differ materially from applying this Standard to the individual contracts (or performance obligations) within that portfolio

Scope

Identifying the contract

An entity shall account for a contract with a customer that is within the scope of this Standard only when all of the following criteria are met:

(a) the parties to the contract have approved the contract (in writing, orally or in accordance with other customary business practices) and are committed to perform their respective obligations;

(b) the entity can identify each party’s rights regarding the goods or services to be transferred;

(c) the entity can identify the payment terms for the goods or services to be transferred;

(d) the contract has commercial substance (ie the risk, timing or amount of the entity’s future cash flows is expected to change as a result of the contract.

Combination of contracts

An entity shall combine two or more contracts entered into at or near the same time with the same customer (or related parties of the customer) and account for the contracts as a single contract if one or more of the following criteria are met:

(a) the contracts are negotiated as a package with a single commercial objective;

(b) the amount of consideration to be paid in one contract depends on the price or performance of the other contract;

Promises in contracts with customers

A contract with a customer generally explicitly states the goods or services that an entity promises to transfer to a customer. However, the performance obligations identified in a contract with a customer may not be limited to the goods or services that are explicitly stated in that contract. This is because a contract with a customer may also include promises that are implied by an entity’s customary business practices, published policies or specific statements if, at the time of entering into the contract, those promises create a valid expectation of the customer that the entity will transfer a good or service to the customer.

Performance obligations do not include activities that an entity must undertake to fulfil a contract unless those activities transfer a good or service to a customer. For example, a services provider may need to perform various administrative tasks to set up a contract. The performance of those tasks does not transfer a service to the customer as the tasks are performed. Therefore, those setup activities are not a performance obligation.

Determining the transaction price

An entity shall consider the terms of the contract and its customary business practices to determine the transaction price. The transaction price is the amount of consideration to which an entity expects to be entitled in exchange for transferring promised goods or services to a customer, excluding amounts collected on behalf of third parties (for example, some sales taxes). The consideration promised in a contract with a customer may include fixed amounts, variable amounts, or both.

Consideration payable to a customer

Consideration payable to a customer includes cash amounts that an entity pays, or expects to pay, to the customer (or to other parties that purchase the entity’s goods or services from the customer). Consideration payable to a customer also includes credit or other items (for example, a coupon or voucher) that can be applied against amounts owed to the entity (or to other parties that purchase the entity’s goods or services from the customer). An entity shall account for consideration payable to a customer as a reduction of the transaction price and, therefore, of revenue unless the payment to the customer is in exchange for a distinct good or service

Allocation of a discount

A customer receives a discount for purchasing a bundle of goods or services if the sum of the stand-alone selling prices of those promised goods or services in the contract exceeds the promised consideration in a contract. Except when an entity has observable evidence in accordance with paragraph 82 that the entire discount relates to only one or more, but not all, performance obligations in a contract, the entity shall allocate a discount proportionately to all performance obligations in the contract.

Disclosure

The objective of the disclosure requirements is for an entity to disclose sufficient information to enable users of financial statements to understand the nature, amount, timing and uncertainty of revenue and cash flows arising from contracts with customers. To achieve that objective, an entity shall disclose qualitative and quantitative information about all of the following:

(a) its contracts with customers FRS 115 28

(b) the significant judgements, and changes in the judgements, made in applying this Standard to those contracts and

(c) any assets recognised from the costs to obtain or fulfil a contract with a customer in accordance