Inflation in a financial hedged item Inflation may only be hedged if changes in inflation are a contractually specified portion of cash flows of a recognised financial instrument. Therefore, where an entity acquires or issues inflation-linked debt, it has a cash flow exposure to changes in future inflation to which cash-flow hedge accounting may be applied. However, the amendment clarifies that an entity may not designate an inflation component of issued or acquired fixed-rate debt in a fair value hedge because such a component is not separately identifiable and reliably measurable. The amendments also clarify that a risk-free or benchmark interest rate portion of the fair value of a fixed-rate financial instrument will normally be separately identifiable and reliably measurable and, therefore, may be hedged.

A one-sided risk in a hedged item IAS 39 permits an entity to designate purchased options as a hedging instrument in a hedge of a financial or non-financial item. The entity may designate an option as a hedge of changes in the cash flows or fair value of a hedged item above or below a specified price or other variable (that is, a one-sided risk). The amendments make clear that the intrinsic value, not the time value, of an option reflects a one-sided risk and, therefore, an option designated in its entirety cannot be perfectly effective. The time value of a purchased option is not a component of the forecast transaction that impacts profit or loss. Therefore, if an entity designates an option in its entirety as a hedge of a one-sided risk arising from a forecast transaction, hedge ineffectiveness will arise. Alternatively, an entity may choose to exclude time value as permitted by IAS 39 to improve hedge effectiveness.