Accounting is not an end in itself, but is directed towards the beneficiaries. Financial reporting plays a significant informational role in modern market economy, as it is heavily reliant on certain accounting standards, which determine how business transactions are to be handled and which pieces of information should be presented to the recipients of financial reports. The International Accounting Standards are a set of rules according to which the presentation of the results and contents of annual reports are standardized. They are continually expanded upon and their main purpose is to enable the comparison and cross-analysis of balances, profit and loss accounts and contents of annual reports on an international scale. The application of IAS (International Accounting Standards) is not legally required in public reporting, however, investors, the media and banks all request their integration. The IAS have subsequently undergone a name change and are now called the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), which are issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). The aim of this thesis is to analyse the importance of the International Accounting Standards Board in regard to the compilation of financial reports. The Board impacts financial reports by publishing a new standard General Presentation and Disclosures as part of its Primary Financial Statements project. Furthermore, by classifying revenues and expenses, defining new subtotals which will be presented in profit and loss accounts, introducing new requirements for publishing management success margins and clarifying requirements regarding the addition and separation of financial information, the new standard’s aim is to facilitate the comparability and practicality of financial reports. In addition, this thesis will also touch upon the effects and consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on investors and their need for quality financial reports. In the final part of this thesis, a comparative method will be used to explain the specifics of financial reporting in certain European and American countries and highlight the increased difficulty of comparing such financial reports. It is therefore desirable that the national standards of individual countries are structured in a way that makes the financial reports constructed on the basis of these standards understandable and comparable on an international level.