The IFRS Board: Who Develops International Standards and How

IFRS and auditing standards — different boards

Financial reporting standards (IFRS) are issued by the IFRS Foundation through the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). Auditing standards come from a different body: the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) of the International Federation of Accountants; it is these standards that are named in the Law on Auditing (Article 9 of ZRU-677).

Who applies IFRS in Uzbekistan from 2026

• public interest entities (Presidential Resolution PP-282): exchange-listed issuers, banks, microfinance organizations, payment organizations, investment funds, exchanges; companies with a state share of 50% or more and large organizations — with assets and revenue of at least 1 million BCV (base calculation value) for two consecutive years (for large organizations, also 500 or more employees) (Regulation No. 3736);
• public interest entities are included in the Register annually by 1 July and keep their accounts under IFRS from 1 January of the following year;
• others may switch voluntarily by notifying the tax authority by 1 March; those preparing IFRS financial statements voluntarily are exempt from reporting under national accounting standards (NAS) (Presidential Resolution PP-4611).

What the international standards board is

It is a professional body responsible for developing and publishing International Financial Reporting Standards. It operates within the structure of an independent foundation and is not subordinate to the government of any country.

It is this independence that gives the standards their main quality — universality. Financial statements prepared under them are read in the same way by investors and banks in different countries, because the rules are the same.

How standards are developed

The process is public and has many stages. It starts with identifying a problem in practice and continues with research, publication of a draft for discussion and the collection of comments from companies, auditors and regulators around the world.

Only after analysing the comments received does the Board adopt the final version. Because of this procedure, considerable time passes between the first publication of a draft and the standard's entry into force — companies have time to prepare.

• identifying a problem in practice
• researching and discussing approaches
• publishing a draft for comment
• collecting and analysing comments
• approving the final version
• a period before mandatory application

Standards and interpretations

Besides the standards themselves, there are interpretations — clarifications on issues where practice has proved ambiguous. They are prepared by a dedicated committee working within the same structure.

For practitioners this means something simple: on a contentious issue, check whether an interpretation already exists. Often the answer is already there, and there is no need to invent your own approach.

Why this matters to companies in Uzbekistan

International financial reporting is needed by companies for dealing with banks, investors and group parent companies. The requirements change, and working from an outdated version of a standard leads to auditor findings.

A practical rule: before preparing financial statements, check whether the applicable standards have changed and whether new versions have come into force. We do this for clients as part of our ongoing support.

• banks' and investors' requirements for financial statements
• consolidation within an international group
• entering foreign markets
• comparability of indicators with other companies
• reducing the risk of audit findings

How to keep track of changes

The first source is the Board's own publications: drafts, final versions and effective dates are posted there. The second is material from audit and professional organizations that explains changes in plain language.

It is important to distinguish these sources by status. The primary source sets the requirements; reviews only help to understand them. Decisions should be based on the text of the standard in its current version.

It is also useful to understand the practical meaning of transition provisions. Every new standard specifies the date from which it applies and how the transition is reflected: retrospectively, with restatement of comparative information, or prospectively, for new transactions only. The accounting team's workload in the year of first application depends directly on this. Companies that read these provisions in advance spread the workload evenly; those who learn about them while preparing the financial statements usually face a rush and forced simplifications that the auditor later points out.

Common misconceptions

The first is believing that the standards change constantly and are impossible to keep up with. In practice the process is slow and public, and there is usually a sufficient preparation period before mandatory application.

The second is treating the standards as an instruction manual with ready-made journal entries. They set out principles and disclosure requirements, while the company builds the specific implementation itself through its accounting policy.

It is also worth distinguishing the levels of documents the Board publishes. Besides the standards and interpretations, it issues illustrative examples, application guidance and bases for conclusions. They do not set requirements directly, but they greatly help to understand the logic of a standard and the situations its authors had in mind. For practitioners these materials often prove more useful than the text itself: they analyse exactly those borderline cases that give rise to disputes.

Support from Leader Audit

We help companies apply international standards in practice: we develop accounting policies, prepare conversion models and track changes that affect your financial statements.

13 years of practice and more than 220 audits allow us to turn the requirements of the standards into specific decisions on your transactions rather than general reasoning.

• accounting policy under international standards
• conversion of national financial statements
• preparation of notes and disclosures
• monitoring changes in applicable standards
• audit of financial statements under international standards