ABSTRACT
The change from the word Recommendations to Standards was intended to signify a greater determination to achieve compliance with the new series of pronouncements. The Report has been described as the 'first real attempt by the accounting profession in the UK to develop a conceptual framework'. The Report advocated the user decision-oriented approach that became central to the pursuit of a conceptual framework in the decades which followed. The Report contained numerous radical features. It was seen as a three-step process: identifying the legitimate users of corporate financial statements; discovering the information required to meet their needs; and deciding the types of reports capable of meeting those needs. It emphasized a possible duty to report beyond the traditional constituency of shareholders and creditors to encompass the following five additional user groups: employees, the government, financial analysts and advisers, the business contact group and the public.
