The Blog

Unrealised fair value gains on investment property and financial instruments can create huge IFRS retained earnings that are still unlawful to pay out. Where IFRS stops and company law begins.

When no IFRS deals with a transaction, IAS 8.12 lets you look to US GAAP, but only at the bottom of a hierarchy. When that is allowed, and when an IFRIC agenda decision slams the door shut.

If share options vest only on a sale or IPO, the vesting period has to be estimated and keeps moving. When a start-up starts expensing them under IFRS 2, with a worked example.

A grant that depends on keeping 50 jobs for three years: when do you recognise it, and what happens if you miss the target in year two? IAS 20 with a worked example.

IAS 23.20 suspends capitalisation during "extended periods" when active development stops. The test is vaguer than it sounds. How to judge a construction pause.

There are two accepted ways to test a cash-generating unit with leases under IAS 36, and they can give very different headroom. Why, and how to make them agree.

The 2024 amendments to IAS 7 added supplier finance disclosures but left the classification of the cash flows as a judgement. How to decide whether paying the bank is operating or financing.

A rebuilt expected credit loss model gives a bigger number. Whether the difference is a prior-period error or a change in estimate decides whether you restate last year. Where IAS 8 draws the line.

IFRS 19 cuts subsidiary disclosures from 2027, but only if a parent publishes IFRS consolidated accounts. Most subsidiaries of American groups don't qualify. Here is why, the way in, and what to do instead.

IFRS has no requirements for combining businesses under common control, and the IASB has decided it will stay that way. How merger accounting works, and whether to restate the comparatives.

IFRS 18 exempts one EBITDA-like subtotal from its rules on management-defined performance measures. Most companies' EBITDA is not that subtotal, so from 2027 it needs a note, a reconciliation and an audit.

A parent that never intends to call its loan to a subsidiary still measures the expected credit loss as if it called it today. Two demand loans from the same group show why one carries €10 of ECL and the other €369,918.

A fractional programme sells a share in a specific aircraft and a promise of flying hours across a fleet. Under IFRS the share can be property, plant and equipment while the flying is a service, and the purchase and exit terms decide which.

A non-refundable joining fee is rarely revenue on day one, and it is not automatically spread over the customer's lifetime either. Under IFRS 15, three questions decide when it is earned.

A land lease that renews indefinitely still has a finite lease term under IFRS 16. Start with the enforceable period, then reasonable certainty, and the depreciation, rent reviews and disclosures follow.

A group company that guarantees a fellow subsidiary's rent for no fee still has a financial guarantee under IFRS 9: fair value on day one, a distribution to the parent, and expected credit losses every year after.

When a finance sublease ends before the head lease, the leftover years become the unguaranteed residual value in the net investment, and come back as a right-of-use asset when the subtenant leaves. The head lease liability stays throughout.

A broker quote can be Level 1, 2 or 3 under IFRS 13. What decides it is what sits behind the price: whether it is binding, whether you can corroborate it, and whether the market is still trading.

A voucher handed out with a sale can be a performance obligation. When the customer uses it, revenue on the second sale is the cash paid plus the share of the first sale deferred for the voucher.

The GHG Protocol is a framework that helps governments, companies, and other organizations measure and manage their greenhouse emissions.