January 2016

IASB finalizes amendments regarding the recognition of deferred tax assets for unrealized losses

Jan 19, 2016

On January 19, 2016, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) published final amendments to IAS 12 'Income Taxes'. The IASB had concluded that the diversity in practice around the recognition of a deferred tax asset that is related to a debt instrument measured at fair value is mainly attributable to uncertainty about the application of some of the principles in IAS 12. Therefore the amendments consist of some clarifying paragraphs and an illustrating example.

The amendments in Recognition of Deferred Tax Assets for Unrealized Losses clarify the following aspects:

  • Unrealized losses on debt instruments measured at fair value and measured at cost for tax purposes give rise to a deductible temporary difference regardless of whether the debt instrument's holder expects to recover the carrying amount of the debt instrument by sale or by use.
  • The carrying amount of an asset does not limit the estimation of probable future taxable profits.
  • Estimates for future taxable profits exclude tax deductions resulting from the reversal of deductible temporary differences.
  • An entity assesses a deferred tax asset in combination with other deferred tax assets. Where tax law restricts the utilization of tax losses, an entity would assess a deferred tax asset in combination with other deferred tax assets of the same type.

The amendments are effective for annual periods beginning on or after January 1, 2017. Earlier application is permitted. As transition relief, an entity may recognize the change in opening retained earnings of the earliest comparative period on initial application. The Board has not added additional transition relief for first-time adopters.

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IASB finalizes amendments to IAS 7 under its disclosure initiative

Jan 29, 2016

On January 29, 2016, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) published amendments to IAS 7 'Statement of Cash Flows'. The amendments are intended to clarify IAS 7 to improve information provided to users of financial statements about an entity's financing activities. They are effective for annual periods beginning on or after January 1, 2017, with earlier application being permitted.

The amend­ments re­quire dis­clo­sures that will en­able users of fi­nan­cial state­ments to eval­u­ate changes in li­a­bil­i­ties aris­ing from fi­nanc­ing ac­tiv­i­ties. To the extent necessary to achieve this ob­jec­tive, the IASB re­quires that the fol­low­ing changes in li­a­bil­i­ties aris­ing from fi­nanc­ing ac­tiv­i­ties are dis­closed): (i) changes from fi­nanc­ing cash flows; (ii) changes aris­ing from ob­tain­ing or los­ing con­trol of sub­sidiaries or other busi­nesses; (iii) the ef­fect of changes in for­eign ex­change rates; (iv) changes in fair val­ues; and (v) other changes.

The amendments state that one way to fulfill the new disclosure requirements is to provide a reconciliation between the opening and closing balances in the statement of financial position for liabilities arising from financing activities. This is a departure from the December 2014 exposure draft that had proposed that such a reconciliation should be required.

Finally, the amendments state that changes in liabilities arising from financing activities must be disclosed separately from changes in other assets and liabilities.

Dissenting opinion

One Board member voted against the publication of the amendments as this Board member believes that (i) the amendments may provide incomplete information about an entity’s management of liquidity, (ii) the amendments do not meet the needs of users of financial statements, and (iii) the costs of preparing the disclosure will be considerable and may outweigh the benefits.

Effective date and transition requirements

The amendments are effective for annual periods beginning on or after January 1, 2017. Earlier application is permitted. Since the amendments are being issued less than one year before the effective date, entities need not provide comparative information when they first apply the amendments.

Additional information

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