A STUDENTS GUIDE TO

INTERNATIONAL
FINANCIAL REPORTING
9th EDITION
Lesley Stainbank, David Oakes & Mahomed
Razak

S & O Publishing
PO Box 27, Eston 3740, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
9th Edition 2014
In terms of the Copyright Act No. 98 of 1978, no part of this book may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval
system, without permission in writing from all the authors.
This text has been carefully prepared, but is necessarily summarised and is
therefore intended for general guidance only. It is neither a substitute for
detailed research of appropriate accounting treatments nor a substitute for the
exercise of professional judgement. The authors and publisher can accept no
responsibility for loss occasioned to any person acting or refraining from action as
a result of any material in this publication.
ISBN: 978-0-620-64049-7

Preface
This text is designed to assist the needs of those studying financial accounting
both at CTA level (i.e. accounting honours or postgraduate diploma in accounting
students) and final year BCom Accounting students.
This text makes extensive use of illustrative examples to assist students in
interpreting International Financial Reporting Standards and other South African
financial reporting requirements. However, International Financial Reporting
Standards that pertain to specialist industries (e.g. insurance and agriculture) are
excluded from the scope of this text. Accordingly, this text deals only with those
International Financial Reporting Standards and other financial reporting
requirements that the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants include
in the syllabus for their Initial Test of Competence.
Financial accounting has seen a proliferation of constantly evolving International
Financial Reporting Standards being issued in recent years. Cognisant of the
volume of the financial accounting syllabus, this text is designed to assist students
in understanding the increasingly complex and voluminous International Financial
Reporting Standards and other South African reporting requirements.
The illustrative examples presented in this text contain detailed calculations that
seek to illustrate the recognition and measurement requirements of each
International Financial Reporting Standard and other South African financial
reporting requirements. Most of the illustrative examples also include suggested
presentation and disclosure.
It is important that readers understand that there are many different ways of
satisfying most disclosure requirements, and that the presentations set out in this
text illustrate only one such method.
With this text, the authors aim to simplify financial accounting and thereby
significantly assist accounting students in achieving their academic and
professional goals.

Acknowledgements
Scott Stainbank and Desigan Naidoo for help in the editing of the
text.

Lesley
Stainbank

Professor

10 December 2014

University of KwaZulu-Natal,
Westville Campus
stainbankl@ukzn.ac.za
031 260 2141

David
Oakes

Senior Lecturer

10 December 2014

London South Bank University

oakesd@lsbu.ac.uk
0044 207 7815 7786

Mahomed
Razak

Senior Lecturer
University of KwaZulu-Natal,
Westville Campus
razakm@ukzn.ac.za
031 260 7381

10 December 2014

Table of Chapters
Chapter 1:

The Financial Reporting Framework

Chapter 2:

Presentation of Financial Statements

Chapter 3:

Fair Value Measurement

Chapter 4:

Business Combinations and Goodwill

Chapter 5:

Revenue

Chapter 6:

Taxation

Chapter 7:

Leases

Chapter 8:

Financial Instruments

Chapter 9:

Foreign Currency Transactions

Chapter 10:

Provisions, Contingencies and Events after the Reporting Period

Chapter 11

Employee Benefits

Chapter 12:

Share-Based Payments

Chapter 13:

Accounting Policies, Changes in Accounting Estimates and Errors

Chapter 14:

Earnings per share and Dividends per share

Chapter 15:

Property, Plant and Equipment

Chapter 16:

Investment Property

Chapter 17:

Inventories

Chapter 18:

Intangible Assets

Chapter 19:

Non-current Assets Held For Sale and Discontinued Operations

Chapter 20:

Impairment of Assets

Chapter 21:

Statement of Cash Flows

Chapter 22:

Accounting for Subsidiaries

Chapter 23:

Joint Arrangements, Associates and Foreign Investees

Chapter 24:

Acquisitions, Liquidations and Restructurings

Chapter 25:

Other Statements and Reports