Disclosure Overload: FASB Project Comments

A lot of recent commentary exists on the subject of disclosure overload.

 

Recently the FASB has begun to focus on this topic. "Streamlining Disclosures" has become subject of various initiatives, including a recent round-table discussions this conducted by FASB and the Center for Audit Quality.

 

FASB has also initiated a Disclosure Framework project "to improve the effectiveness of disclosures in notes to financial statements by clearly communicating the information that is most important to users of each entity’s financial statements. Although reducing the volume of notes to financial statements is not the primary focus, the Board hopes that a sharper focus on important information will result in reduced volume in most cases."

 

"Boilerplate" and non-material disclosure have been said to be "noise" that obscures the real information that readers of financial information really need.

 

FASB published an Invitation to Comment (ITC) on this topic last July 12. They asked stakeholders to comment on whether and how disclosures in the footnotes to financial statements can be made more effective. The comment period ended Nov. 16.

Some of the questions:

• Do the decision questions in this chapter and the related indicated disclosures encompass all of the information appropriate for notes to financial statements that is necessary to assess entities’ prospects for future cash flows?
• Do any of the decision questions or the related indicated disclosures identify information that is not appropriate for notes to financial statements or not necessary to assess entities’ prospects for future cash flows?

Commentors said unnecessary disclosures can prevent users from finding the information they need, obscure the real information and waste prepares' time, money, and create undesirable environmental outcomes, i.e. too much paper.  

The FASB received 83 comment letters. Some comments: 

 

• Issuers should only provide relevant disclosures
• Disclosures should have a narrower focus that "could be useful to investors"
• Concern over the risk of litigation or regulatory action because preparers omit information previously provided. 
• Avoid using the term "relevance" 
• Watch the SEC's requirements, i.e. no point to reducing GAAP disclosures if the SEC imposes more specific requirements
• "The uses of boiler plate disclosures and reliance on checklists have inundated both the public and private sector as the volume and complexity of reporting requirements have increased significantly over the years. We believe having the flexibility to apply professional judgment will substantially reduce unnecessary disclosures."
• "We believe that preparers' judgment should instead be focused on what is material to the company based on a set of flexible disclosure requirements. Enabling flexibility, based upon materiality, would result in the right balance of providing relevant information while maintaining comparability."


• "Disclosure overload and complexity are the two aspects of financial reporting that financial statement users and preparers, large or small, agree on: There is too much of both."

This will be interesting to watch over the next few years. Don't expect a quick reduction in disclosures for this year's 10-Ks!