The Accounting Standards Board (ASB) has tentatively decided to amend the draft Financial Reporting Standard for Medium-sized Entities (FRSME) so that there is no separate standard for civil society groups.

Following a board meeting on 29 September the ASB has decided not to issue separate guidance for public benefit entities (PBEs) but to incorporate it into the FRSME and clearly identify the supplementary paragraphs.

FRED 45 was published last March and outlined proposals for a Financial Reporting Standard for Public Benefit Entities (FRSPBE) to accompany the FRSME.  But sector feedback was not generally positive.

The latest decision has been welcomed by the Charity Finance Directors' Group (CFDG) which had made that recommendation as part of its response to the consultation earlier this year.

Speaking to civilsociety.co.uk, Katherine Smithson, policy officer at CFDG, said that incorporating the requirements into the wide standard “would help with cross-referencing”.

She added: “We think that the changes are reasonably positive and the ASB seem to be receptive to the concerns of the sector.”

The ASB has also instructed its staff to look again, with its advisory committee CAPE, at other subjects including the inventory and income received as a donation, funding commitments and merger accounting.