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Australian equivalents to International Financial Reporting Standards
There are no specific Australian equivalents to International Financial Reporting Standards (AIFRS) relating to the presentation of financial reports for trusts. Attention is drawn to the definition of the term "entity" in the AIFRS, which includes any organisational structure or arrangement. Clearly a trust falls within this definition, even though from a legal perspective a trust is not a separate entity.
The AIFRS must be applied when preparing the general purpose financial report of a reporting entity. Although many trusts will not meet the definition of a reporting entity, this needs to be determined on an individual basis. If there are users who are dependent on the general purpose financial reports of the partnership for making and evaluating resource allocation decisions, and those users are unable to specifically require the preparation of information tailored to suit those needs, then the trust is a reporting entity and must comply with the requirements of the AIFRS when preparing its financial statements.
The following factors should be considered when determining whether an entity, such as a trust, is a reporting entity:
• separation of management from economic interest
• economic or political importance/influence, and
• financial characteristics.
The first point above is particularly relevant in the case of a trust. A decision must be made whether the management of the trust is sufficiently separate from the economic interests (such as the beneficiaries) of the trust to create a reporting entity. Trusts, such as listed and property trusts, may involve the beneficiaries being little more than public subscribers with the management of the trust being undertaken by a professional trust manager, quite separate from the beneficiaries. At the other end of the scale, a family discretionary trust would not usually be regarded as a reporting entity where the beneficiaries were able to command the preparation of financial information about the trust how and when they required it.
The other points listed above will also need to be considered, particularly where a trust is significant in terms of its asset size or indebtedness. In such cases, a trust may be a reporting entity where it is reasonable to expect that there are users dependent upon the preparation of general purpose financial reports of the trust.
Trusts will be regarded as reporting entities in the following situations:
• debt or equity funds are raised from the public as this results in the existence of potential resource providers who require general purpose financial reports as a basis for making resource allocation decisions
• the sale of an entity may result in the identification of the entity as a reporting entity
• the size and/or economic significance of some entities to their suppliers, clients or employees (in the case of trading trusts) or to the public may dictate that those entities are reporting entities.
If it is decided that a trust is a reporting entity, the trust should prepare general purpose financial reports in accordance with AIFRS. If the financial statements are audited, reference should be made to AIFRS, Australian Interpretations and Australian auditing standards, with details of departure therefrom disclosed in the financial statements.
All AIFRS are applicable to trusts that are reporting entities unless they are only applicable to specific types of entities. |
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