IASB publishes exposure draft on hedge accounting

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09 Dec, 2010

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has published for public comment an exposure draft on the accounting for hedging activities.

The exposure draft proposes requirements designed to enable companies to better reflect their risk management activities in their financial statements, and, in turn, help investors to understand the effect of those activities on future cash flows.

The proposed model is principle-based, and is designed to more closely align hedge accounting with risk management activities undertaken by companies when hedging their financial and non-financial risk exposures.

Summary of the ED proposals

  • A new hedge accounting model which combines a management view that aims to use information produced internally for risk management purposes and an accounting view that seeks to address risk management issue of the timing of recognition of gains and losses
  • Look only at whether a risk component can be identified and measured, as opposed to determining what can be hedged by type of item (financial or non-financial)
  • Base qualification for hedge accounting on how entities design hedges for risk management purposes and permit hedging relationships to be adjusted without necessarily stopping and potentially restarting hedge accounting
  • Treat the time value premium of a purchased option as a cost of hedging, which will be presented in other comprehensive income (OCI)
  • Extending the use of hedge accounting to net positions (to improve the link to risk management)
  • A comprehensive set of new disclosures that focus on the risks being hedged, how those risks are being managed and the effect of hedging those risks upon the primary financial statements

The exposure draft forms part of the IASB's overall project to replace IAS 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement, and when its proposals are confirmed they will be incorporated into IFRS 9 Financial Instruments. The exposure draft does not include consideration of portfolio macro hedge accounting which the IASB will continue to discuss.

The exposure draft ED/2010/13 Hedge Accounting is open for comment until 9 March 2011. The IASB intends to finalise and issue the proposals during the first half of 2011.

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