We have commented on the IFRS Interpretations Committee tentative decision not to take onto the Committee’s agenda a request for clarification on the distinction between a change in an accounting policy and a change in an accounting estimate.
We agree with the IFRS Interpretations Committee’s decision not to add this item onto its agenda for the reasons set out in the tentative agenda decision. However, whilst we would expect there to be some reason for a change in accounting estimate, we believe that the unsupported statement in the tentative agenda decision that “a change in a method of estimation should only be made if that change produces reliable and more relevant information” should be removed from the agenda decision. We do not believe it is appropriate to extrapolate this from the requirement in paragraph 14 of IAS 8 which applies only to changes in accounting policies.