This is the third year CA ANZ has run the Chartered Accountants IFRS Survey, giving voice to Chartered Accountants' views on the impacts, challenges and opportunities in local and international financial reporting standards setting. The survey provides quantitative research findings from our members and other industry professionals who have key roles in relation to financial statements.

Financial reporting remains complex and is continually changing, which makes it challenging for smaller organisations with limited resources to compile high-quality financial statements efficiently.

The IFRS Survey was designed to understand views on the impacts of major recent IFRS standards, including leases, revenue and financial instruments, and other key financial reporting matters. The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) will be conducting post-implementation reviews of these major standards, so this is our chance to provide feedback and potentially effect change and improvements.

The key findings from our 2022 Chartered Accountants IFRS Survey are:

• The impacts and effort involved in implementing IFRS 9, 15 and 16 are still being felt across all sectors. Respondents ranked the complexity of financial statements as the most impacted area.
• Three in 5 respondents agree that the Tier 2 simplified disclosure standard (AASB 1060 General Purpose Financial Statements – Simplified Disclosures for For-Profit and Not-for-Profit Tier 2 Entities) has reduced the reporting burden and improved consistency and comparability. However, few are convinced that an appropriate balance has been struck between costs and benefits – most respondents called for further simplification.
• Overall, both preparers and advisors had the internal capability and resources to implement the Australian for-profit financial reporting framework reforms or required only minimal external support.
• Identifying the necessary recognition, measurement, or accounting policy changes was the most complex aspect of the transition process from preparing special purpose financial statements to general purpose financial statements.

CA ANZ wishes to thank all respondents for the time taken to provide this valuable feedback. This feedback will be voiced directly in engagement with local and international standards setters and inform CA ANZ's advocacy efforts toward simplifying and improving accounting standards and the Australian financial reporting framework.