Background

The IASB's annual improvements process provides a streamlined process for dealing efficiently with a collection of amendments to IFRSs.  The primary objective of the annual improvements process is to enhance the quality of IFRSs by amending existing IFRSs to clarify guidance and wording, or correcting for relatively minor unintended consequences,
conflicts or oversights.

This page provides information about the criteria and process the IASB undertakes in developing annual improvements, but does not list details of individual improvements considered, as these are discussed in our project pages for each annual improvements cycle - these can be accessed on the right-hand side of this page.

Criteria for considering an item as part of the annual improvements process

To be considered as part of the annual improvements process, issues must meet the enhanced criteria for the IASB’s annual improvements process that were approved by the Trustees in February 2011 as part of a revision to the Due Process Handbook for the Board.

In planning whether an issue should be addressed by amending IFRSs within the annual improvements project, the issue must meet all of the following criteria:

• The proposed amendment has one or both of the following characteristics:
  • clarifying — the proposed amendment would improve IFRSs by:
    • clarifying unclear wording in existing IFRSs, or
    • providing guidance where an absence of guidance is causing concern.
    A clarifying amendment maintains consistency with the existing principles within the applicable IFRSs. It does not propose a new principle, or a change to an existing principle
  • correcting — the proposed amendment would improve IFRSs by:
    • resolving a conflict between existing requirements of IFRSs and providing a straightforward rationale for which existing requirement should be applied, or
    • addressing an oversight or relatively minor unintended consequence of the existing requirements of IFRSs.
    A correcting amendment does not propose a new principle or a change to an existing principle.
• The proposed amendment is well-defined and sufficiently narrow in scope such that the consequences of the proposed change have been considered
• It is probable that the IASB will reach conclusion on the issue on a timely basis. Inability to reach a conclusion on a timely basis may indicate that the cause of the issue is more fundamental than can be resolved within annual improvements.
• If the proposed amendment would amend IFRSs that are the subject of a current or planned IASB project, there must be a need to make the amendment sooner than the project would.

The revised criteria were developed to help determine whether a matter relating to the clarification or correction of IFRSs should be addressed using the annual improvements process.

How the IASB deals with annual improvement requests

Issues submitted by constituents for consideration within the annual improvements process are considered and discussed by the IFRS Interpretations Committee and by the IASB. These discussions take place in the Committee’s and the Board’s public meetings, including assessment against the criteria for annual improvements.

Once this assessment is made, the amendments included in the annual improvements process will follow the same due process as other IASB projects.

An omnibus exposure draft of the collected proposals is published for public comment each year, generally in the third quarter.  The comment period is usually 90 days.  After the IASB has considered the comments received, it aims to issue the amendments in final form in the following second quarter of the following year,  with an effective date of 1 January of the subsequent year.

From January 2010, the IFRS Interpretations Committee has taken on an additional role of reviewing proposed amendments within the annual improvements process and making recommendations to the IASB.