Digital Assets and Liabilities Descriptive Research

The UKEB has undertaken extensive research into intangible assets, including qualitative stakeholder interviews, surveys of users of financial statements and quantitative analysis of UK listed company reporting. That work has informed both the IASB and discussions with international accounting standard setters regarding the future development of accounting requirements for intangible assets.

Digital assets represent a particularly important area for further investigation because:

• they are currently within the scope of IAS 38 Intangible Assets in many circumstances;
• they have emerged since IAS 38 was developed and have proved a particular challenge for existing accounting requirements;
• stakeholder interest in accounting for digital assets and liabilities continues to increase;
• the IASB has specifically identified newer forms of intangible assets, including cryptocurrency, as relevant to its work on modernising requirements relating to intangible assets.

This project supports the UKEB's strategic objective of proactively contributing evidence and thought leadership to international accounting standard-setting.

The research will:

• strengthen the UKEB evidence base on intangible assets;
• support future engagement with the IASB's Intangible Assets project;
• enhance understanding of UK reporting practices;
• identify areas where accounting challenges may exist in practice; and
• position the UKEB to respond quickly to future IASB consultations or research activities.

The UKEB outreach plan includes discussions with stakeholders.