Introduction IN1 International Accounting Standard 36 Impairment of Assets (IAS 36) replaces IAS 36 Impairment of Assets (issued in 1998), and should be applied:
(a) on acquisition to goodwill and intangible assets acquired in business combinations for which the agreement date is on or after 31 March 2004.
(b) to all other assets, for annual periods beginning on or after 31 March 2004.
Earlier application is encouraged.
Reasons for revising IAS 36
IN2 The International Accounting Standards Board developed this revised IAS 36 as part of its project on business combinations. The project’s objective was to improve the quality of, and seek international convergence on, the accounting for business combinations and the subsequent accounting for goodwill and intangible assets acquired in business combinations.
IN3 The project had two phases. The first phase resulted in the Board issuing simultaneously in 2004 IFRS 3 Business Combinations and revised versions of IAS 36 and IAS 38 Intangible Assets. The Board’s deliberations during the first phase of the project focused primarily on the following issues:
(a) the method of accounting for business combinations;
(b) the initial measurement of the identifiable assets acquired and liabilities and contingent liabilities assumed in a business combination;
(c) the recognition of provisions for terminating or reducing the activities of an acquiree;
(d) the treatment of any excess of the acquirer’s interest in the fair values of identifiable net assets acquired in a business combination over the cost of the combination; and
(e) the accounting for goodwill and intangible assets acquired in a business combination.
IN4 The second phase of the project resulted in the Board issuing simultaneously in 2008 a revised IFRS 3 and amendments to IAS 27 Consolidated and Separate Financial Statements.1 The Board’s intention while revising IAS 36 was to reflect only those changes related to its decisions in the Business Combinations project, and not to reconsider all of the requirements in IAS 36. The changes that have been made in the Standard are primarily concerned with the impairment test for goodwill.