BC207 The objective of general purpose financial reporting is to provide information about the financial position, performance and changes in financial position of a reporting entity that is useful to a wide range of users in making economic decisions. To attain this objective, the Board seeks to ensure that an IFRS will meet a significant need and that the overall benefits of the resulting information justify the costs of providing it. Although the costs of implementing a new IFRS might not be borne evenly, users of financial statements benefit from improvements in financial reporting, thereby facilitating the functioning of markets for capital and credit and the efficient allocation of resources in the economy.

BC208 The evaluation of costs and benefits is necessarily subjective. In making its judgement, the Board considered the following:

(a) the costs incurred by preparers of financial statements;

(b) the costs incurred by users of financial statements when information is not available;

(c) the comparative advantage that preparers have in developing information, compared with the costs that users would incur to develop surrogate information;

(d) the benefit of better economic decision‑making as a result of improved financial reporting; and

(e) the costs of transition for users, preparers and others.

BC209