Financial Instruments with Characteristics of Equity

The IASB has recently published its Discussion Paper (DP) on Financial Instruments with the Characteristics of Equity (FICE), which aims to improve the classification of certain complex financial instruments that companies have issued and to enhance disclosures about debt and equity instruments issued by a company. This article, the first of two parts, sets out the key features of the DP and reports on some of the issues raised during a presentation of the DP at a meeting of the Accounting Standards Advisory Forum (ASAF).