Proposed amendments to IAS 8
On 27 March, the IASB published proposed narrow-scope amendments to IAS 8 - Accounting Policies, Changes in Accounting Estimates and Errors.
Keywords: Mazars, Thailand, IFRS, Accounting, Change in Accounting Policy, IAS8, IFRS IC
14 May 2018
The amendments aim to provide clarifications on retrospective application of a change in accounting policy resulting from an agenda decision published by the IFRS Interpretations Committee (IFRS IC).
An agenda decision is a decision published by the IFRS IC explaining why it decided not to make any modifications or additions to IFRSs following consideration of a particular question put to the committee.
These decisions are not mandatory requirements like standards or interpretations, but they often include useful explanations on how to apply IFRSs. Thus, agenda decisions may result in an entity voluntarily changing its accounting policy (without this necessarily constituting a prior period error correction).
The proposed amendments clarify that, when a change in accounting policy is applied retrospectively following the publication of an agenda decision by the IFRS IC, an entity shall consider the ratio of costs to benefits for users of the financial statements, as well as whether retrospective application is practicable. In other words, retrospective application of the change in accounting policy is only mandatory if the benefits for users of the financial statements exceed the cost to the entity of implementing retrospective application.
The comment period is open until 27 July 2018 and the amendments can be accessed on the IASB’s website.
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