Last update 12/02/2020
Objective
1 The objective of this Standard is to prescribe the criteria for selecting and changing accounting policies, together with the accounting treatment and disclosure of changes in accounting policies, changes in accounting estimates and corrections of errors. The Standard is intended to enhance the relevance and reliability of an entity’s financial statements, and the comparability of those financial statements over time and with the financial statements of other entities.
2 Disclosure requirements for accounting policies, except those for changes in accounting policies, are set out in IAS 1 Presentation of Financial Statements.
Scope
3 This Standard shall be applied in selecting and applying accounting policies, and accounting for changes in accounting policies, changes in accounting estimates and corrections of prior period errors.
4 The tax effects of corrections of prior period errors and of retrospective adjustments made to apply changes in accounting policies are accounted for and disclosed in accordance with IAS 12 Income Taxes.
Definitions
5 The following terms are used in this Standard with the meanings specified:
Accounting policies are the specific principles, bases, conventions, rules and practices applied by an entity in preparing and presenting financial statements.
A change in accounting estimate is an adjustment of the carrying amount of an asset or a liability, or the amount of the periodic consumption of an asset, that results from the assessment of the present status of, and expected future benefits and obligations associated with, assets and liabilities. Changes in accounting estimates result from new information or new developments and, accordingly, are not corrections of errors.
International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) are Standards and Interpretations issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). They comprise:
- International Financial Reporting Standards;
- International Accounting Standards;
- IFRIC Interpretations; and
- SIC Interpretations. 1
Material Omissions or misstatements of items are material if they could, individually or collectively, influence the economic decisions that users make on the basis of the financial statements. Materiality depends on the size and nature of the omission or misstatement judged in the surrounding circumstances. The size or nature of the item, or a combination of both, could be the determining factor.
Prior period errors are omissions from, and misstatements in, the entity’s financial statements for one or more prior periods arising from a failure to use, or misuse of, reliable information that:
- was available when financial statements for those periods were authorised for issue; and
- could reasonably be expected to have been obtained and taken into account in the preparation and presentation of those financial statements.
Such errors include the effects of mathematical mistakes, mistakes in applying accounting policies, oversights or misinterpretations of facts, and fraud.
Retrospective application is applying a new accounting policy to transactions, other events and conditions as if that policy had always been applied.
Retrospective restatement is correcting the recognition, measurement and disclosure of amounts of elements of financial statements as if a prior period error had never occurred.
Impracticable Applying a requirement is impracticable when the entity cannot apply it after making every reasonable effort to do so. For a particular prior period, it is impracticable to apply a change in an accounting policy retrospectively or to make a retrospective restatement to correct an error if:
- the effects of the retrospective application or retrospective restatement are not determinable;
- the retrospective application or retrospective restatement requires assumptions about what management’s intent would have been in that period; or
- the retrospective application or retrospective restatement requires significant estimates of amounts and it is impossible to distinguish objectively information about those estimates that:
- provides evidence of circumstances that existed on the date(s) as at which those amounts are to be recognised, measured or disclosed; and
- would have been available when the financial statements for that prior period were authorised for issue from other information.
Prospective application of a change in accounting policy and of recognising the effect of a change in an accounting estimate, respectively, are:
- applying the new accounting policy to transactions, other events and conditions occurring after the date as at which the policy is changed; and
- recognising the effect of the change in the accounting estimate in the current and future periods affected by the change.
6 Assessing whether an omission or misstatement could influence economic decisions of users, and so be material, requires consideration of the characteristics of those users. The Framework for the Preparation and Presentation of Financial Statements states in paragraph 252 that ‘users are assumed to have a reasonable knowledge of business and economic activities and accounting and a willingness to study the information with reasonable diligence.’ Therefore, the assessment needs to take into account how users with such attributes could reasonably be expected to be influenced in making economic decisions.