IAS 39 — Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement

Effective date:

First effective as Canadian GAAP under Part I for interim and annual financial statements relating to fiscal years beginning on or after January 1, 2011 except for subsequent amendments.  Earlier application of Part I was permitted.

IAS 39 will be largely replaced by IFRS 9, Financial Instruments for annual periods beginning on or after January 1, 2018.

Published by the IASB:

December 2003

Included in Part I of CPA Canada Handbook:

January 2010

Reach out to our IAS 39 Specialist

Kiran Khun-Khun

Martin Roy

Overview

IAS 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement outlines the requirements for the recognition and measurement of financial assets, financial liabilities, and some contracts to buy or sell non-financial items. Financial instruments are initially recognized when an entity becomes a party to the contractual provisions of the instrument, and are classified into various categories depending upon the type of instrument, which then determines the subsequent measurement of the instrument (typically amortized cost or fair value). Special rules apply to embedded derivatives and hedging instruments.

History of IAS 39

The following table shows the history of this standard subsequent to the adoption of IFRS in Canada.

Date1

Development

Comments

Included in Part I of the CPA Canada Handbook2

January 2010

Part I of the CPA Canada Handbook issued

Effective for interim and annual financial statements relating to fiscal years beginning on or after January 1, 2011. Earlier application is permitted.

January 2010

June 27, 2013

Amended by Novation of Derivatives and Continuation of Hedge Accounting

 

The amendments clarify that novation of a hedging derivative to a clearing counterparty as a consequence of laws or regulations or the introduction of laws or regulations does not terminate hedge accounting.

The amendments are effective for annual periods beginning on or after January 1, 2014. Earlier application is permitted.

September 2013

July 24, 2014

IFRS 9 Financial Instruments issued, replacing IAS 39 requirements for classification and measurement, impairment, hedge accounting and derecognition

This final version of IFRS 9 supersedes the requirements of earlier versions of IFRS 9. However, for annual periods beginning before January 1, 2018, an entity may elect to apply those earlier versions instead of applying the final version of this new standard if, and only if, its initial application date is before February 1, 2015.

The final version of IFRS 9 is effective for annual periods beginning on or after January 1, 2018. Earlier application is permitted. 

February 2014

N/A

Version of IAS 39 to be applied by entities whose activities are predominantly connected with insurance and that choose to temporarily defer applying IFRS 9 Financial Instruments

The AcSB incorporated into the 2018 Edition of Part I of the Handbook the version of IAS 39 to be applied by entities whose activities are predominantly connected with insurance and that choose to temporarily defer applying IFRS 9 Financial Instruments, as permitted by Applying IFRS 9 Financial Instruments with IFRS 4 Insurance Contracts (Amendments to IFRS 4)

September 2017

September 26, 2019

Amended by Interest Rate Benchmark Reform (Amendments to IFRS 9, IAS 39 and IFRS 7)

The amendments are designed to support the provision of useful financial information by companies during the period of uncertainty arising from the phasing out of interest-rate benchmarks such as IBORs. They (i) modify some specific hedge accounting requirements to provide relief from potential effects of the uncertainty caused by the IBOR reform; and (ii) require companies to provide additional information to investors about their hedging relationships which are directly affected by these uncertainties. The amend­ments are ef­fec­tive for an­nual pe­ri­ods be­gin­ning on or af­ter Jan­u­ary 1, 2020.  Ear­lier ap­pli­ca­tion is per­mit­ted.

November 2019

N/A

Updates to the Basis of Conclusions material

The Basis for Conclusions related to hedge accounting requirements as issued by the IASB in December 2003 has been added. This Basis for Conclusions accompanies, but is not part of, IAS 39. The Basis for Conclusions includes amendments made subsequently by the IASB for amendments for Interest Rate Benchmark Reform – Phase I.

April 2020

August 27, 2020

Amended by Interest Rate Benchmark Reform — Phase 2 (Amendments to IFRS 9, IAS 39, IFRS 7, IFRS 4 and IFRS 16).

The amendments provide temporary exceptions from applying specific hedge accounting requirements in IFRS 9 and IAS 39 to all hedging relationships directly affected by interest rate benchmark reform. In addition, the amendments to IFRS 7 provide specific disclosure requirements regarding uncertainty arising from interest rate benchmark reform. The amendments are effective for annual periods beginning on or after January 1, 2020. Earlier application is permitted.

October 2020

December 1, 2020

Up­dates to the Ba­sis of Con­clu­sions ma­te­r­ial

On December 1, 2020 the amendments made to the Basis for Conclusions as a result of Interest Rate Benchmark Reform – Phase 2 (Amendments to IFRS 9, IAS 39, IFRS 7, IFRS 4 and IFRS 16) were added to  Part I of the CPA Canada Hand­book – Ac­count­ing.

December 2020

Note

  1. For further details of relevant developments prior to this, please refer to our Deloitte Global section.
  2. Newly issued, amended or revised IFRSs are part of Canadian GAAP only after they are approved by the Accounting Standards Board in accordance with its due process.

The above summary does not include details of consequential amendments made as the result of other projects.

Related Interpretations

Related IFRIC Agenda Rejection Notices

The rejection notices are available in our Deloitte Global section.

  • IAS 32 — Accounting for a financial instrument that is mandatorily convertible into a variable number of shares subject to a cap and a floor (May 2014)
  • IAS 39 — Accounting for term-structured repos (March 2014)
  • IAS 27 & IAS 28 — Impairment of investments in associates in separate financial statements (January 2013)
  • IAS 39 — Scope of paragraph AG5 (November 2012)
  • IAS 18, IAS 37 and IAS 39 — Regulatory assets and liabilities (November 2012)
  • IAS 39 — Classification of a GDP-linked security (September 2012)
  • IAS 39 — Derecognition of financial instruments upon modification (September 2012)
  • IAS 39 — Impairment of financial assets reclassified from available-for-sale to loans and receivables (July 2010)
  • IAS 39 — Unit of account for forward contracts with volumetric optionality (March 2010)
  • IAS 39 — Meaning of “Significant or prolonged” (July 2009)
  • IAS 39 — Hedging using more than one derivative as the hedging instrument (July 2009)
  • IAS 39 — Classification of failed loan syndications (May 2009)
  • IAS 39 — Participation rights and calculation of the effective interest rate (May 2009)
  • IAS 39 — Fair value measurements of financial instruments in inactive markets: determining the discount rate (March 2009)
  • IAS 39 — Derecognition (March 2009)
  • IAS 39 — Valuation of restricted securities (November 2008)
  • IAS 18/IAS 39 — Accounting for trailing commissions (September 2008)
  • IAS 39 — Application of the effective interest rate method (July 2008)
  • IAS 37 — Deposits on returnable containers (May 2008)
  • IAS 39 — Scope of IAS 39 paragraph 2(g) (January 2008)
  • IAS 39 — Hedging future cash flows with purchased options (September 2007)
  • IAS 39 — Hedging multiple risks with a single derivative hedging instrument (July 2007)
  • IAS 39 — Gaming transactions (July 2007)
  • IAS 1/IAS 39 — Current or non-current presentation of derivatives classified as ‘held for trading’ under IAS 39 (May 2007)
  • IAS 39 — Assessing hedge effectiveness of an interest rate swap in a cash flow hedge (March 2007)

AcSB’s IFRS Discussion Group meetings

  • January 10, 2018 - IAS 39: Transaction Price Allocation
  • October 5, 2017 - IFRS 3 and IAS 39: Transaction Price Allocation
  • May 30, 2017 - IFRS 3 and IAS 39: Transaction Price Allocation
  • November 29, 2016 - IFRS 3 and IAS 39: Transaction Price Allocation and Settlement of a Shareholder Loan
  • September 13, 2016 - IFRS 3 and IAS 39: Transaction Price Allocation
  • May 31, 2016 - IAS 32 and 39: Changes to Convertible Debt
  • December 3, 2015 - IAS 32 and IAS 39: Changes to Convertible Debt
  • September 10, 2015 - IAS 21 and IAS 39: Translation of a Monetary Asset in an Economy with Multiple Exchange Rates
  • September 10, 2015 - IAS 21 and IAS 39: Translation of an Equity Investment and Impairment Considerations
  • May 14, 2015 - IAS 39: Classification of Cash and Cash Equivalents and IAS 39: Classification of Exchanged Shares
  • December 9, 2014 - IFRS 13 and IAS 39: Fair Value Measurement of Government Loans and IFRS 13 and IAS 39: Subsequent Measurement of Fair Value
  • September 11, 2014 - IFRS 9 and IAS 39: Flow-through Shares with Attached Share Purchase Warrants

Amendments under consideration

Correction list for hyphenation

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