The IASB has recently published an exposure draft of a proposed International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) on rate-regulated activities. The issue of regulatory assets and liabilities is not new, but this is the first time that the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) itself has weighed in with proposals. In the run-up to the 2005 adoption of IFRSs in Europe and other countries, the International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) considered whether regulatory assets could be recognised under IFRSs, by analogy to the guidance in U.S. GAAP FAS 71 Accounting for the Effects of Certain Types of Regulation. The IFRIC concluded that the recognition criteria in FAS 71 were not consistent with IFRSs and declined to take the issue onto its agenda. Following that decision, the debate amongst companies applying IFRSs died down and as our December 2008 survey The Application of IFRS: Power and Utilities showed, regulatory assets and liabilities are not a feature of financial statements prepared in accordance with IFRSs.
Overview of proposals
- Scope
- Recognition and measurement
- Presentation
- Disclosure
- Effective date and transition
- First-time adoption of IFRSs
- Country contacts
Provided: KPMG