If candidates understand what accounting concepts mean then this should have been a relatively straight forward question.

However, it seems a number of candidates simply learn the accounting concepts (in the IASB Framework) are, without actually understanding them or being able to apply them.

The concept of comparability, rather similar to consistency, can be applied in two circumstances.

First there is internal comparability where an entity's current year results are compared with its past (at least one year) results. However, comparability can also be extended to the comparison of one entity's results to that of another entity's results (for entities of a similar size, in a similar industry sector and for the same accounting period).

Item (1) assists in the second form of the comparability in that it recognises that not all entities use the same accounting policies (not that they should).

In these circumstances the disclosure of accounting policies allows users to identify when the financial statements of entities differ because they have used different accounting policies.

From this information, users may be able to make notional adjustments (if appropriate) to achieve a form of comparability when assessing relative performance.

Item (2) is self-evident; to compare current year performance to past performance, users need to be provided with past (comparative) results.

The statement in Item (3) is incorrect; entities are permitted to change their accounting policies, the reporting requirements of which are determined by IAS 8 Accounting policies, changes in Accounting Estimates and Errors.

Also, if it were applied, this statement would not provide comparability but rather uniformity.

It is widely recognised that uniformity is not necessarily the same as comparability because different accounting policies are appropriate to entities that have different operating conditions.

Item (4) is a sub-form of item (3). Assets should be depreciated over their estimated useful lives (straight-line or reducing balance as appropriate) and clearly different assets, even of the same class, have different lives (and perhaps also different usage patterns).

From this, items (1) and (2) are relevant to comparability and items (3) and (4) are not; thus A is the correct answer.