After many years of extensive
consultation the IASB is close
to finalising its new accounting
Standard for insurance contracts.
The good news, particularly
for those using the financial
statements, is that when that
Standard comes into effect,
insurance contracts will be
accounted for on a consistent
basis under IFRS. In addition,
everyone using IFRS will measure
their liabilities for insurance
contracts on an updated current
measurement basis on the balance
sheet (ie insurance contracts
liabilities would be discounted
using current discount rates).
Sue Lloyd
A member of the IASB, discusses proposed amendments to
IFRS 4 Insurance Contracts to provide temporary relief for insurers
and also discusses the importance of investor involvement
during the comment period.
The not quite so good news is that
the earliest that this change in
accounting is likely to be reflected
in financial statements is 2020.
In the meantime the new financial
instruments accounting under
IFRS 9 Financial Instruments is due to
come into effect—it is mandatory
from 2018. Some have raised
concerns about this and are calling
on the IASB to ‘mind the gap’ in
timing. The question we have for you
is whether we should ‘mind the gap’
and if so how should we do that?
So what is the concern?
Insurers are concerned about
the fact that IFRS 9 will apply
before they change the way in
which they account for their
insurance contracts. A key concern
insurers raise (primarily those that
measure their insurance contract
liabilities today on a cost basis), is
that some of their financial assets
may change to being measured at
fair value through profit or loss
when they apply IFRS 9. The types
of financial assets that they have
in mind are structured debt and
equity investments.
This would mean, for example, that
for structured, debt changes in fair
value, including those caused by
changes in interest rates, would be
reflected in profit or loss. Ultimately,
some of the additional volatility in
profit or loss that arises from this
may be offset when they move to
current measurement of liabilities for
insurance contracts, at which time
interest rate changes on the liability
could be reflected in profit or loss.
The insurers who have raised this
are concerned about the volatility
in this interim period. In particular,
they are concerned that this
short‑lived volatility, along with two
changes in accounting in relatively
quick succession, may confuse users
of the financial statements. These
concerns have led many insurers
to call on the IASB to defer the
application date of IFRS 9 for them