The principles underlying the IFRS and the measurement bases of the elements comprising the financial statements

Purpose: This theoretical essay seeks to present concepts, arguments and discussions about the adoption and use of IFRS, focusing on their underlying principles and measurement bases. Methodology: Literature review with presentation and discussion of arguments from authors who have researched the use of IFRS and its underlying principles and measurement bases. Results: Principle-based accounting standards are seen by a number of authors as a possible solution to the problem of accounting harmonization. However, another stream of authors states that principle-based accounting standardization, although it may result in higher quality it is less assertive financial reporting, given the existence of subjectivity in the content of financial statements. This fact leads to the conclusion that absolute harmonization of accounting standards would be impossible. Contributions of the Study: The study proposes notes regarding the discussion on IFRS, which are responsible for increasing the quality of financial statements, while at the same time reducing the reliability of the information produced, in view of the difficulties inherent to the application of the concept of fair value.