Implementing AASB 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers: The preparer perspective

Purpose This study examines the implementation of AASB 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers to provide insight into preparers’ perspectives on the challenges, costs and benefits experienced in implementing a new and complex standard. Design/methodology/approach The study employs a survey of 143 financial statement preparers engaged in implementing AASB 15. Findings The results reveal significant variation in the approach to, and progress in, implementing AASB 15. Research limitations/implications The study provides evidence of the role of proprietary costs in implementing a new standard and suggests that preparers adopt a more pragmatic view of the nature of compliance compared to standard-setters. Practical implications The evidence in this study strongly suggests that there is little to be gained in deferring effective dates for new standards. It suggests that standard-setters can motivate entities by framing a standard in terms of how it improves the business itself, rather than from a compliance framing. Originality/value This study provides a rare perspective on the actual implementation experience of preparers confronted with the introduction of a new standard. Such a perspective is of value to standard-setters and preparers and offers insight to researchers that cannot be gained from traditional capital market archival approaches.