ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some key accounting standards aspects in relation to financial instruments, namely the relevant International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)/International Accounting Standards (IAS) accounting standards and the comparison between IFRS/IAS and United States General Accepted Accounting Practices. Before discussing the individual IFRS/IAS standards that are relevant to financial instruments, it is best to consider the implication of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)/IAS in general. The essential issue with IAS 32 is presentation. Generally, IAS 39 provides the requirements for the recognition and measurement of financial assets, financial liabilities and various contracts to buy or sell non-financial items. While IAS 39 addresses accounting for financial liabilities, it does not deal with accounting for equity instruments issued by the reporting enterprise. The phasing out of IAS 39 has the objective of resolving some major lingering concerns. The IASB is phasing out IAS 39 in stages and replacing this standard with IFRS 9.
