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AASB 101 - Presentation of Financial Statements (Revised)
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Summary 
Developments, Key Differences & History 
Compared to IFRS 
Interpretations 
Rejection Notices 
Questions & Answers 
Articles 
AASB website 

 
Financial statements 
as reported in ANT11/2008 
 
Q: How is the new “statement of comprehensive income” being introduced by AASB 101 different from the old income statement and is the change mandatory?  
 
A: The change in the structure of the income statement being introduced by the recently reissued AASB 101 ‘Presentation of Financial Statements’ is mandatory and is more than a cosmetic change. It arises from a new requirement to present owner related changes in equity separately from non-owner changes in equity. The statement of comprehensive income can be presented in 2 parts (an income statement and a statement of comprehensive income) if preferred or simply as one statement disclosing total comprehensive income. 
 
Revised AASB 101 is applicable for financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2009 and can be adopted early.  
 
For more details on AASB 101 visit the Institute’s website where there is an article (pdf) summarising the new requirements. 
 
 
Financial statements 
as reported in ANT09/2008 
 
Q: I’ve heard that the recent changes to AASB 101 mean that the names of the financial statements are changing again. Is that true? 
 
A: Yes and No! The September 2007 revisions to ‘AASB 101 Presentation of Financial Statements’ do include a number of changes to the names of financial statements.  
These changes were a response to the IASB’s revision of IAS 1 and represent stage 1 of a major financial statement presentation project the IASB is undertaking with the US FASB. They were exposed here in early 2007 as ED 148, and the new standard is applicable for financial years beginning on, or after, 1 January 2009 – although it can be adopted early. 
 
In order to align our standards with their revised international counterparts, the standards will now refer to a balance sheet as a Statement of Financial Position, the terms “financial report” and “general purpose financial report” will be replaced by "financial statement” and “general purpose financial statement”, and the income statement will now be referred to as the “Statement of Comprehensive Income.”  
 
However, since the changes in wording are only being made within the accounting standards themselves, there is no requirement to adopt the new terminology in financial reports produced in accordance with the standards. 
 
 
Release of new AASB 101 
as reported in ANT40/2007 
 
Q: Does the release by the AASB of a revised version of AASB 101 "Presentation of financial statements" affect my unsigned financial statements for 30 June 2007? 
 
A: Yes. AASB 108 paragraph 30 requires financial statements to disclose details concerning any new standards that have been issued but not yet applied because they are not effective. Therefore, if financial reports for 30 June 2007 are as yet unsigned, the note complying with AASB 108 paragraph 30 needs to include a reference to AASB 101, noting that it has been reissued but has not yet been adopted. The note should also make reference to any known or reliably estimable information about the possible impact of this standard on the first financial report to which it will be applied. 
 
Specimen notes complying with AASB 108 are included in the various "specimen published financial statements" published by the major firms and these can be accessed via our website. 
 
While these notes have not yet been updated for AASB 101 they provide guidance as to the kind of information that should be provided. 
 
A summary of the changes being introduced by AASB 101 is contained in the AASB media release accompanying the release of the standard and was also discussed in ANT39.