Response 2 - E.Beale

OFFICIAL - PUBLIC

Dear Paul

I am responding in an individual capacity as both a user of accounts and chairman of an overseas company listed on the JSE which prepares accounts under IFRS.

I strongly believe that the UKEB needs to urgently add to its work program a thought leadership project on the impact of AI on how users access information and consequently on how information is presented in financial reports.

Users will increasingly be using AI to extract information from financial reports and populating their own assessment models.

If comparison across companies is primarily performed use users own models, then comparability across companies within financial reports becomes less important. So long as the relevant data is published, and adequately labelled, AI will be able to extract it to populate the user's model.

It is possible to envisage a future in which comparability restraints on financial reports are relaxed, giving companies more freedom to tell their story in their own. This freedom of expression will provide users with additional information that is not currently available within existing comparability constraints.

Reducing presentation requirements will reduce the length of the IFRS rulebook, making standards easier for all to access.

Kind regards

Edward