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IFRS® Accounting Standards

Disclosure Initiative—Accounting Policies

Summary

The Accounting Standards Board (AcSB) is participating in the International Accounting Standards Board’s (IASB) project to amend IAS 1 Presentation of Financial Statements.

The objective of this project is to develop guidance and examples to help entities apply materiality judgments to accounting policy disclosure.  The IASB is developing amendments to require entities to disclose their material accounting policies rather than their significant accounting policies.  The IASB is also developing guidance and examples to explain and demonstrate the application of the ‘four-step materiality process’ described in IFRS Practice Statement 2 Making Materiality Judgements (Materiality Practice Statement) to accounting policy disclosures.

The AcSB’s due process includes ensuring that Canadian entities’ financial reporting needs are considered by the IASB and issuing the AcSB’s own exposure draft on each IASB proposal.  Subject to the responses to the AcSB’s exposure draft on whether the IASB’s proposals are appropriate for application in Canada, the AcSB expects that the amendments will be incorporated into Canadian GAAP in accordance with the AcSB’s strategy of adopting IFRSs for publicly accountable enterprises.

Staff Contact(s)

Grace Flis, CPA, CA Principal, Accounting Standards Board

Project Status

  • Information gathering

    Completed prior to July 2018.

  • Approving project

    The IASB added the project to its agenda in July 2018.

    The IASB is expected to issue an Exposure Draft in the second half of 2019.

  • Engaging Communities

    AcSB Exposure Draft issued in August 2019

    IASB Exposure Draft issued in August 2019

  • Deliberating feedback

    The IASB deliberated comments received on its Exposure Draft in February 2020

    The IASB is expected to issue the final amendments in the fourth quarter of 2020

  • Final pronouncement

    The IASB issued the final amendments in February 2021

    The AcSB endorsed the IASB’s amendments, and they have been incorporated into Canadian GAAP with an effective date of beginning on or after January 1, 2023

Disclaimer

This project summary has been prepared for information purposes only. Decisions reported are tentative and reflect only the current status of discussions on this project, which may change after further Board deliberations. Decisions to publish Handbook material are final only after a formal voting process.