The discussion covered communication in financial markets and areas where improvements in IFRS Standards can be mutually beneficial to investors and companies.
Part of the impetus for the debate was supplied by the IASB’s embryonic plan to tidy up the way in which financial statements are presented by companies that use IFRS Standards.
The standard-setter feels that these statements are not always clear enough, with valuable information drowned out by tick-box disclosures and a profusion of alternative performance measures that can make it difficult to compare one listed business with another.
Over the coming years, its reforms could extend to reorganising the way that income statements, balance sheets and cash flow statements are laid out, while also potentially addressing non-financial information that falls into the category of environmental, social and governance (ESG).
Who exactly is the target audience for financial statements, for one thing? It is not possible to say that they are merely aimed at investors—and even if that were true, investors are not a homogenous group.
For instance, one participant in the debate highlighted the communication difficulties created for companies by the rise of passive funds that mechanically buy into an index rather than selecting individual stocks.
Another participant admitted that they and other active investors were a "demanding lot" who wanted full disclosure from companies but also concision, standardised metrics but no boiler plate. "In lots of ways we are pretty much asking for the impossible."
Another investor expressed frustration with how difficult it can be to figure out how non-GAAP figures were assembled and called for a statement of principles that would nudge some companies into being more transparent about their non-GAAP workings.
There was also a desire among audience members to improve the way that financial data is electronically tagged to allow it to be "sliced and diced" automatically—albeit with some reservations about how much the process of copying across data can be automated reliably.
Time constraints meant that there was little opportunity to discuss some other digital issues, such as how companies might exploit advances in data visualisation techniques and whether social media will ever become a meaningful channel for communication with markets.
Like the Brexit process that began in earnest earlier in the day, the IASB’s latest reform push is still at an early stage—with the prospect of a great deal of friction ahead.
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