In April 2024 the IASB published the IFRS 18 “Presentation and Disclosure in Financial Statements”, a new accounting principle that responds to investor demands for better information about companies’ financial performance. It introduces significant innovations aimed at improving the quality of financial reporting, with a particular focus on financial performance contained in the Profit or loss statement. IFRS 18 will be mandatory starting from 1 January 2027 (but early application is permitted) replacing IAS 1 “Presentation of Financial Statements”. The aim of this study is to illustrate the main changes introduced by IFRS 18 on the structure of the Income Statement and the Cash Flow Statement of non-financial companies, to examine their impact on the performance measures contained therein, also offering critical considerations useful for an integrated vision of the subtotals presented in the two aforementioned statements. The paper highlights that the IASB, in order to improve investors’ ability to compare performance between companies and between reporting periods for the same company, has changed its traditional approach characterized by the lack of detailed provisions in the preparation of financial statement formats. On the other hand, the IASB requires to disclose in the Notes performance measures defined by management, to communicate to investors its view of an aspect of the financial performance of the company as a whole.
KEYWORDS: IFRS 18, primary financial statements, financial performance, statement of financial performance, statement of profit or loss
