Accounting Standards - FRS 14 changes eps rules

UK procedures for reporting earnings per share have been synchronised with international practice, following the publication of FRS 14 today.

The earnings per share standard supersedes SSAP 3 and is mandatory for accounting periods ending on or after 23 December. The Accounting Standards Board encouraged companies to adopt the new standard early.

ASB technical director Allan Cook characterised FRS 14 as a limited ‘tweak’ that would bring UK practice into line with both US and international standards. The ASB pointed out that some of the issues raised by UK respondents to the eps discussion paper were forwarded last year to the International Accounting Standards Committee and included in the final version of IAS 33.

Most of the changes to SSAP 3 cover the calculation and disclosure of diluted earnings per share and are illustrated with worked examples illustrating how to calculate and present the figures.

Both the ASB and ACCA predicted a reasonably favourable reception for FRS 14.