An issues paper on comprehensive income

Placing comprehensive income reporting on the FASB's agenda raises many issues beyond the reformating of financial statements that is proposed in the Exposure Draft. The issues go to the core of the financial accounting model and are fundamental to a "comprehensive business reporting model" as envisioned by the AICPA Special Committee on Financial Reporting. The issues involve recognition of income and equity but, more basically, ask the question for whom is the income calculated and to whom are the financial statements directed. The answer to that question gives the answer to other recognition issues and some of these have been discussed in this paper. The issues discussed here suggest agenda items to the FASB if the Board decides to implement comprehensive income reporting. Many of them are conceptual framework issues and so may also prompt a rethinking of the FASB's formal Conceptual Framework.