Changes and reasoning behind the changes

The changes in Definition of Material (Amendments to IAS 1 and IAS 8) all relate to a revised definition of "material" which is quoted below from the final amendments:

Information is material if omitting, misstating or obscuring it could reasonably be expected to influence decisions that the primary users of general purpose financial statements make on the basis of those financial statements, which provide financial information about a specific reporting entity.

Three new aspects of the new definition should especially be noted:

• Obscuring. The existing definition only focused on omitting or misstating information, however, the Board concluded that obscuring material information with information that can be omitted can have a similar effect. Although the term obscuring is new in the definition, it was already part of IAS 1 (IAS 1.30A).
• Could reasonably be expected to influence. The existing definition referred to "could influence" which the Board felt might be understood as requiring too much information as almost anything "could" influence the decisions of some users even if the possibility is remote.
• Primary users. The existing definition referred only to "users" which again the Board feared might be understood too broadly as requiring to consider all possible users of financial statements when deciding what information to disclose.

During redeliberations, the Board spent a lot of time on discussing what constitutes obscuring information. The amendments stress especially five ways material information can be obscured:

• if the language regarding a material item, transaction or other event is vague or unclear;
• if information regarding a material item, transaction or other event is scattered in different places in the financial statements;
• if dissimilar items, transactions or other events are inappropriately aggregated;
• if similar items, transactions or other events are inappropriately disaggregated; and
• if material information is hidden by immaterial information to the extent that it becomes unclear what information is material.

The new definition of material and the accompanying explanatory paragraphs are contained in IAS 1, Presentation of Financial Statements. The definition of material in IAS 8, Accounting Policies, Changes in Accounting Estimates and Errors has been replaced with a reference to IAS 1.

Effective date

The amendments are effective for annual reporting periods beginning on or after January 1, 2020. Earlier application is permitted.

Additional information

Review the press release on the Board's website.