The International Accounting Standards Board is seeking broad public input on the strategic direction and overall balance of its future work programme between the development of financial reporting and the maintenance of current IFRSs.  The IASB have identified five broad strategic areas in each of the two main categories of its future work.

Developing financial reporting

• - Strengthening the consistency of IFRSs by completing the update of the conceptual framework, and improving the usability of financial reports through the development of a presentation and disclosure framework.

• - Investing in research and addressing the strategic issues for financial reporting to aid future standard-setting and to develop further the IASB's vision of the future shape of financial reporting, including exploring the interaction of IFRSs with integrated reporting.

• - Filling gaps in the IFRS literature by undertaking standards-level projects, ie developing new IFRSs or making major amendments.

Maintaining existing IFRSs

• - Obtaining a better understanding of operational issues of new IFRSs and major amendments through conducting post implementation reviews.

• - Improving the consistency and quality of the application of IFRSs by responding to implementation needs arising from the revised set of IFRSs, through the use of targeted, narrow-scope improvements to IFRSs, including consideration of the completeness and consistency of integration of XBRL with IFRSs.

The questions raised in the discussion paper are as follows:

Question 1: What do you think should be the IASB's strategic priorities, and how should it balance them over the next three years?

Question 1(a) : Do you agree with the two categories we identified and the five strategic areas within them? If you disagree, how do you think the IASB should develop its agenda, and why?

Question 1(b) : How would you balance the two categories and five strategic areas? If you have identified other areas for the IASB's agenda, please include these in your answer.

Question 2: What do you see as the most pressing financial reporting needs for standard-setting action from the IASB?

Question 2(a) : Considering the various constraints, to which projects should the IASB give priority, and why? Where possible, please explain whether you think that a comprehensive project is needed or whether a narrow, targeted improvement would suffice?

Question 2(b) : Adding new projects to the IASB's agenda will require the balancing of agenda priorities with the resources available. Which of the projects previously added to the IASB's agenda but deferred would you remove from the agenda in order to make room for new projects, and why? Which of the projects previously added to the IASB's agenda but deferred do you think should be reactivated, and why? Please link your answer to your answer to question 2(a).

This is an important consultation that will help to shape the work of the IASB over at least the next three years.  How the IASB balances the calls for a stable platform to allow bedding in of the numerous changes in recent years against the need for improvements and development will largely depend on the responses it receives.  CIMA intends to respond and we are seeking input from our membership via this discussion forum.  The consultation period on the future work programme of the IASB closes on 30 November 2011. The Agenda Consultation 2011-Request for views document is available to download from the IASB website

This consultation does not address the IASB's three-year review cycle of the IFRS for Small and Medium-sized Entities, that consultation will proceed separately from this review.