Companies often invest significant amounts of time and money in training their employees, whether the company engages in manufacturing, retail, or professional services. Accounting standards generally do not permit these costs to be recorded as assets (such as “investment in employees”), but instead require such costs to be expensed. 

Required:
a. Discuss the rationale for this approach by considering the qualitative characteristics in the IFRS Conceptual Framework.
b. Discuss the rationale for this approach by considering the elements of financial statements and the recognition of those elements in the IFRS Conceptual Framework.