The Accounting Standards Board (AcSB) is participating in the International Accounting Standards Board’s (IASB) project to amend IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts. The objective of this project is to help entities increase the usefulness of comparative information presented on initial application of IFRS 17 and IFRS 9 Financial Instruments.
IFRS 17 and IFRS 9 have different requirements for comparative information:
- IFRS 17 requires entities to present one restated comparative period.
- IFRS 9 permits but does not require restatement of comparative periods, and prohibits entities from applying IFRS 9 to financial assets derecognized in the comparative period.
The proposed amendment is an optional classification overlay for financial assets to which IFRS 9 has not been applied in the comparative periods. Applying the proposed amendment, an entity would be permitted to present comparative information about such a financial asset as if the classification and measurement requirements of IFRS 9 had been applied to that financial asset.
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 IFRS® Standards for publicly accountable enterprises.