FRSSE – Financial Reporting Standard for Smaller Entities (Withdrawn) | Extended Reference

Before the WHOLESALE 2015 overhaul of UK GAAP, the FRSSE (Financial Reporting Standard for Smaller Entities) provided a SELF-CONTAINED, SIMPLIFIED set of accounting requirements for small companies – allowing them to avoid applying the FULL suite of "old UK GAAP" standards (the individual SSAPs, old FRSs, and UITF Abstracts that existed BEFORE FRS 100–105 replaced them). With the introduction of "new UK GAAP," the FRSSE's ROLE was ABSORBED into FRS 102's OWN Section 1A small-entity relief, and – for the very smallest companies – into the NEW FRS 105 micro-entities regime, making the FRSSE REDUNDANT and leading to its WITHDRAWAL.

TODAY, a small company applies FRS 102 in FULL, but with SECTION 1A's reduced DISCLOSURE requirements (NOT reduced recognition/measurement) if it meets the Companies Act small company thresholds; if it ALSO meets the STRICTER micro-entity thresholds, it may instead elect the FURTHER-simplified FRS 105 (see the companion posters) – TOGETHER replacing the single FRSSE document with a MORE granular, TWO-TIER simplification structure within the "new UK GAAP" hierarchy.

The FRSSE, as part of "OLD UK GAAP," was developed LARGELY INDEPENDENTLY of IFRS, reflecting UK-specific accounting tradition and Companies Act requirements of its era, WITHOUT the deliberate international alignment that characterises TODAY's suite. Its SUCCESSOR regimes – FRS 102 Section 1A and FRS 105 – by contrast, sit WITHIN a framework EXPLICITLY based on (and adapted from) the IASB's own IFRS for SMEs Standard – representing a GENUINE philosophical shift from the FRSSE era's more INSULAR UK-specific approach toward today's DELIBERATELY IFRS-anchored hierarchy (see the FRS 100 and FRS 102 posters for the fuller picture of this alignment).