The NAPF welcomes the Accounting Standards Board (ASB)’s efforts to consolidate and simplify the framework for financial reporting in the UK.  The response focuses on the ASB’s proposals for pension schemes’ financial statements.  The ASB proposes that pension schemes should be treated as ‘publicly accountable’ entities.  They would then have to apply EU-approved International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs), with the unintended consequence – not realised by the ASB at the time – that they would become subject to reporting requirements, particularly in relation to derivatives exposures, that would be extremely onerous for a number of larger schemes.

The NAPF argues that pension schemes do not meet the criteria for ‘public accountability’ and that decisions about how they report can thus be based on the merits of the case.