Financial Instruments

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Definition

A financial instrument is a tradable asset of any kind which can be either cash, evidence ownership in an entity or a prescribed right to receive or deliver money or other financial instrument. According to IAS 32 and 39 it is defined as “any contract which will give rise to a financial asset of one entity and an equity instrument or financial obligation of another entity. Financial instruments can be thought of as an easily tradable package of capital, each having their own unique features.

Objectives

The main objectives of IAS32 are:

1) To establish the principles for offering the financial instruments as equity or liabilities and for compensating the financial assets and liabilities.

2) To increase the financial statement and the user’s understanding of the importance of financial instruments to the financial point of an entity, performance and cash flows.

The principles in IAS 32 complement the principles to distinguish and measure the financial assets and liabilities in IAS 39. Applying the standards IAS 32 and IAS 39, which presents a new arrangement of the financial instruments, has new implications within the accounting management of the security procedures made by the use of the resultant financial instruments. Particularly, the IAS 39 focuses on the valuation of the financial instruments stipulating the application and effectiveness area of the value, as well as of the estimated condition.

IFRS 7 Financial Instruments

The accounting standard IFRS 7 requires entities to deliver disclosures in their financial reports that allow users to estimate the importance of financial instruments, the nature and amount of risks ascending from them and how entities realize those risks. IFRS 7 was originally allotted in August 2005 and is applicable to annual periods starting on or after 1 January 2007. IFRS 7 applies to reveal the financial transactions, for both known and unknown financial instruments, on the financial statement. The information must allow readers the capability to evaluate the performance and location of instruments. The entity decides the amount of factor needed to validate with the rule, but must take into attention the risk of overloading the reader with pointless details or having relevant details concealed within a collective amount.

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