The International Accounting Standards Board and the Financial Accounting Standards Board have published a joint discussion paper offering their early ideas on how they’d like to redevelop the entire format of financial statement presentation.

The two boards took up a project to overhaul financial statements as users have complained that existing requirements allow too many alternatives and result in too much grouping of information where users would like to see more detail. Users say existing methods also result in inconsistent presentation, making it hard to comprehend the financial health of an entity just by looking at its financial statements. FASB and IASB also say existing accounting standards provide little guidance on how to arrange financial statements, and what’s provided is scattered across various standards.

The proposed format would arrange financial information into three separate statements—financial position, comprehensive income, and cash flow. Each statement would distinguish between information arising from direct business activities (making a distinction between operating and investing activities), financing, income taxes, and discontinued operations.

The all critical “net income” figure that is so central to financial reporting today would change, replaced by various income figures related to each of those activities. The statement of comprehensive income would still include a subtotal for net income and a separate section for other comprehensive income. Equity would appear as part of the statements of financial position and cash flows.

FASB Chairman Robert Herz and IASB Chairman David Tweedie, in a joint statement, said they welcome and encourage feedback. “If you have an interest in the future presentation of financial information, now is the time to get involved,” said Tweedie.

The boards have outlined a number of questions for preparers, auditors, and users of financial statements to consider, and they’ve allowed a long comment period, through April 14, to give plenty of time for analysis and feedback. They’ve also provided a “snapshot” summary of the discussion paper to give a quick overview of the plan.