Operating cash flows

IFRS 18 Presentation and Disclosure in Financial Statements – Best read

by

IFRS 18 Presentation and Disclosure in Financial Statements

The IASB’s newly issued standard IFRS 18 mainly deals with the presentation of the income statement, balance sheet and certain footnotes. At the same time, certain aspects of the cash flow statement are modified. IFRS 18 does not change the recognition and measurement of the components of financial statements; therefore, the amounts reported as shareholders’ equity and net income are both unchanged. However, it will have a significant impact on the presentation and disaggregation of what is reported (primarily in the income statement and footnotes), including what subtotals companies must provide and how these are defined.

There are five main areas where we think the new standard will help investors as users of IFRS Financial Statements:IFRS 18 Presentation and Disclosure in Financial Statements

Operating–Investing–Financing classification

IFRS 18 aims to establishes a structured statement of profit or loss by implementing the following measures:

  • It introduces three defined categories for income and expenses: operating, investing, and financing.
    • Operating – income/expenses resulting from the company’s main business operations.
    • Investing – income/expenses from:
      • investments in associates, joint ventures and unconsolidated subsidiaries;
      • cash and cash equivalents;
      • assets that generate a return individually and largely independently (e.g. rental income from investment properties).
    • Financing – consisting of:
      • income/expenses from liabilities related to raising finance only (e.g. interest expense on borrowings); and
      • interest income/expenses and effects of changes in interest rates from other liabilities (e.g. interest expense on lease liabilities).
  • It mandates to present new defined totals and subtotals, including operating profit, thereby enhancing the clarity and consistency of financial reporting.

Entities primarily engaged in investing in assets or providing finance to customers are subject to specific categorisation requirements. This entails that additional income and expense items, which would typically be classified as investing or financing activities, are instead categorised under operating activities. Consequently, operating profit reflects the outcomes of an entity’s core business operations. Identifying the main business activity involves exercising judgment based on factual circumstances.

Read more

Low credit risk operational simplification

by

Low credit risk operational simplification

IFRS 9 contains an important simplification that, if a financial instrument has low credit risk, then an entity is allowed to assume at the reporting date that no significant increases in credit risk have occurred. The low credit risk concept was intended, by the IASB, to provide relief for entities from tracking changes in the credit risk of high quality financial instruments. Therefore, this simplification is only optional and the low credit risk simplification can be elected on an instrument-by-instrument basis.

This is a change from the 2013 ED, in which a low risk exposure was deemed not to have suffered significant deterioration in credit risk. The amendment to make the simplification optional was made in response to requests from constituents, including regulators. It is expected that the Basel Committee SCRAVL consultation document will propose that sophisticated banks should only use this simplification rarely for their loan portfolios.

For low risk instruments, the entity would recognise an allowance based on 12-month ECLs. However, if a financial instrument is not considered to have low credit risk at the reporting date, it does not follow that the entity is required to recognise lifetime ECLs. In such instances, the entity has to assess whether there has been a significant increase in credit risk since initial recognition that requires the recognition of lifetime ECLs.

The standard states that a financial instrument is considered to have low credit risk if: [IFRS 9.B5.22]

  • The financial instrument has a low risk of default
  • The borrower has a strong capacity to meet its contractual cash flow obligations in the near term
  • Adverse changes in economic and business conditions in the longer term may, but will not necessarily, reduce the ability of the borrower to fulfil its contractual cash flow obligations Low credit risk operational simplification

A financial instrument is not considered to have low credit risk simply because it has a low risk of loss (e.g., for a collateralised loan, if the value of the collateral is more than the amount lent (see collateral) or it has lower risk of default compared with the entity’s other financial instruments or relative to the credit risk of the jurisdiction within which the entity operates.

Read more

Operating cash flows under IAS 7

by

Operating cash flows

Cash flows must be analysed between operating, investing and financing activities.

For operating cash flows, the direct method of presentation is preferred, but the indirect method is acceptable.

Here are the differences and similarities between the direct and indirect method. Note the subtotals for operating, investing and financing activities are the same amount in both methods!

Indirect method cash flow statement

Direct method cash flow statement

Starts with:

Starts with:
  • Profit before tax
  • Adjustment for:
    • non-cash items
    • depreciation/amortization (add back to profit)
    • gain on disposal of NCA (deduct)
    • loss in disposal of NCA (add back)
    • remove impact of accruals
    • Interest expense (add back)
    • Interest income (deduct and relocate to Investing activities)
  • Movement on working capital items
    • Receivables (deduct increase, add decrease)
    • Payables (add increase, deduct decrease)
    • Inventory (deduct increase, add decrease)
    • Interest paid (deduct)
    • Taxation (including deferred tax movements) (deduct).
  • Acquisition cash flows
  • Receipts from customers
  • Less Payments to:
    • suppliers
    • employees
    • other operating expenses
    • interest charges
    • taxation

Operating cash flows

Cash Flows from Operating activities

Cash Flows from Operating activities
  • purchase of non-current assets
  • sale/disposal of non-current assets
  • acquisition cash flows
  • interest received/dividend received on investment.

Cash Flows from Investing activities

Cash Flows from Investing activities
  • purchase of (treasure) shares
  • cash from shares issued
  • dividend payments to owners
  • take loan/issue bonds
  • acquisition cash flows
  • payments under lease agreements

Cash Flows from Financing activities

Cash Flows from Financing activities

Common cash flow classification errors in practice

Read more

Cash flow forecasting

by

A Basic Guide to Cash Flow Forecasting

Nobody wants their business to fail. Although it’s impossible to predict the future with 100% accuracy, a cash flow forecast is a tool that will help you prepare for different possible scenarios in the future.

In a nutshell, cash flow forecasting involves estimating how much cash will be coming in and out of your business within a certain period and gives you a clearer picture of your business’ financial health

What is Cash Flow Forecasting?

Cash flow forecasting is the process of estimating how much cash you’ll have and ensuring you have a sufficient amount to meet your obligations. By focusing on the revenue you expect to generate and the expenses you need to pay, cash flow forecasting can help you better manage your working capital and plan for various positive or difficult scenarios.

A cash flow forecast is composed of three key elements: beginning cash balance, cash inflows (e.g., cash sales, receivables collections), and cash outflows (e.g., expenses for utilities, rent, loan payments, payroll).

Building Out Cash Flow Scenario Models

It’s always good to create best case, worst-case and moderate financial scenarios. Through cash flow forecasting, you’ll Cash flow forecastingbe able to see the impact of these three scenarios and implement the suitable course of action. You can use the models to predict what needs to happen especially during difficult and uncertain times.

In situations where variables shift quickly such as during a recession, it is highly recommended to review and update your cash flow forecasts regularly on a monthly or even weekly basis. By monitoring your cash flow forecast closely, you’ll be able to identify warning signs such as declining revenue or increasing expenses.

Read more

What is initial public offering

by

What is initial public offering

An Initial Public Offering (IPO) comprises of a privately owned business that wants access the public capital market through the sale of securities (shares in the before IPO privately owned business). Thereby, the business can raise monies more readily than by the retention of profits in order to also grow through acquiring other businesses. Other possible motivations for an IPO include the prestige of ownership of a public company or the desire of major shareholders to exit the company.

Back-door listings

Another way that entities may list is through a reverse restructure with an existing non-operating listed entity that has few assets or liabilities (i.e. a shell company) or a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC).

Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) are publicly traded companies formed for the sole purpose of raising capital through an IPO and using the IPO proceeds to acquire one or more unspecified businesses in the future.

The management team that forms the SPAC (the “sponsor”) forms the entity and funds the offering expenses in exchange for founder shares. There are various tax considerations and complexities that can have significant implications both during the SPAC formation process and down the road.

Under these circumstances where a private entity is ‘acquired’ by the listed entity, this is commonly referred to as aWhat is initial public offering back-door listing. Since the listed non-operating entity is not a business, the transaction is not a business combination. Normally such transactions are accounted for similar to reverse acquisitions.

However, because the accounting acquiree is not a business the transaction is considered a share-based payment. That is, the private entity is deemed to have issued shares to obtain control of the listed entity and to the extent their fair value exceeds the fair value of the listed entity’s identifiable net assets an expense will arise.

Disclosure of key judgements

Determining the appropriate accounting treatment of a reverse restructure with an existing non-operating listed entity that has few assets or liabilities (i.e. a shell company) or a SPAC often involves judgements. Therefore entities need to ensure that they comply with the disclosure requirements of IAS 1 Presentation of Financial Statements (‘IAS 1’), specifically paragraph 122.

Read more

Disclosure capital management

by

Disclosure capital management

Get the requirements for properly disclosing capital management procedures applied by your company to provide the users of your financial statements with useful financial data, in the common language prescribed in the world’s most widely used  standards for financial reporting, the IFRS Standards. First there is a section providing guidance on what the requirements are, followed by a comprehensive example, easy to tailor to the specific needs of your company.

Disclosure capital management guidance

Capital risk management

1. Capital is not defined in any of the IFRSs. Entities must describe what they manage as capital, based on the type of information that is provided internally to the key management personnel. It therefore depends on the individual entity as to whether capital includes interest-bearing debt or not.

If such debt is included, however, and the loan agreements include capital requirements such as financial covenants that must be satisfied, then these need to be disclosed under paragraph 135(d) of IAS 1 Presentation of Financial Statements. [IAS 1.134, IAS 1.135]

Read more

IAS 16 Generation assets for Power and Utilities

by

Generation assets for Power and Utilities

– are often large and complex installations. They are expensive to construct, tend to be exposed to harsh operating conditions and require periodic replacement or repair. This environment leads to specific accounting issues.

1 Fixed assets and components

IFRS has a specific requirement for ‘component’ depreciation, as described in IAS 16 Property, Plant and Equipment. Each significant part of an item of property, plant and equipment is depreciated separately. Significant parts of an asset that have similar useful lives and patterns of consumption can be grouped together. This requirement can create complications for utility entities, because many assets include components with a shorter useful life than the asset as a whole.

Identifying components of an asset

Generation assets might comprise a significant number of components, many of which will have differing useful lives. The significant components of these types of assets must be separately identified. This can be a complex process, particularly on transition to IFRS, because the detailed record-keeping needed for componentisation might not have been required in order to comply with national generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). This can particularly be an issue for older power plants. However, some regulators require detailed asset records, which can be useful for IFRS component identification purposes.

An entity might look to its operating data if the necessary information for components is not readily identified by the accounting records. Some components can be identified by considering the routine shutdown or overhaul schedules for power stations and the associated replacement and maintenance routines. Consideration should also be given to those components that are prone to technological obsolescence, corrosion or wear and tear that is more severe than that of the other portions of the larger asset.

First-time IFRS adopters can benefit from an exemption under IFRS 1 First-time Adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards. This exemption allows entities to use a value that is not depreciated cost in accordance with IAS 16, and IAS 23 Borrowing Costs as deemed cost on transition to IFRS. It is not necessary to apply the exemption to all assets or to a group of assets.

Read more

5 Comprehensive cash flow accounting events

by

Here are 5 Comprehensive cash flow accounting events with special presentation and/or disclosure requirements under IAS 7. They are:

1 IFRS 9 Classification of cash flows arising from a derivative used in an economic hedge

Consequential amendments were not made to IAS 7 as a result of the introduction of, and subsequent changes to, IFRS 9 Financial Instruments.

A related issue which often arises in practice is the classification of cash flows that arise from a derivative that, although used economically to hedge exposures, is not designated in an IFRS 9 qualifying hedge relationship. The same issue arises under IAS 39, for those insurers that meet the criteria for, and have chosen to apply, the temporary exemption from the application … Read more

Financing activities

by
Financing activities - Activities that result in changes in the size and composition of the contributed capital and borrowings of the entity.