The substance of the contractual arrangement of a financial instrument, rather than its legal form, governs
its classification. This means that, for example, since a preference share redeemable (puttable) by the
holder is economically the same as a bond, it is accounted for in the same way as the bond. Therefore, the
redeemable preference share is treated as a liability rather than equity, even though legally it is a share of
the issuer.