Beyond the GAAP no.115 - October 2017

The IASB has put some last-minute finishing touches to IFRS 9, with an amendment on debt instruments with symmetric prepayment options and with the inclusion (in the Basis for Conclusions) of its analysis of the standard’s provisions on the modification of financial liabilities. All that remains is for the European Union to accelerate the endorsement of the amendment so that European entities do not have to switch accounting policies between 2018 and 2019!

The month of October has once again seen the regulators issue recommendations for the preparation of the 2017 accounts under IFRS. Their advice is the topic of one of this month’s two ‘A Closer Look’ studies. The other study concerns another aspect of the preparation of financial statements: guidance on making materiality judgments, the subject of an IASB Practice statement which was published last September.

Stop press: IFRS 16 on Leases, the clarifications to IFRS 15 on Revenue and the option for deferred application of IFRS 9 for insurers were endorsed by the EU on 9 November 2017.