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Cloud based software in IFRS 15 Revenue

01/11/2023 by 75385885

Cloud based software

Historically, companies acquiring IT and other infrastructure have only faced one decision – buy or lease? From a financial perspective, the choice was simple: lease, because it didn’t require up-front capital and potentially allowed assets to be kept off balance sheet under the old accounting rules. A buy decision meant an up-front investment of capital and a depreciating asset on the balance sheet.

However, with the evolution of technology, a new choice has emerged – cloud services, which can be obtained without buying or leasing. Instead of expensive data centres and IT software licenses, users can choose to simply have a provider host all of their infrastructure and services. No upfront investment is required, just a simple monthly series of payments that can be scaled up, scaled back or cancelled as needed. But what does all of this mean for income statements – and your company’s balance sheet?

Cloud accounting – a different business model

Historically, any company purchasing its IT infrastructure would capitalise the costs and amortise them over time. Under the new leases standard, a company using a lease or hire purchase arrangement to access IT infrastructure would end up with a similar capitalised asset and amortisation charge over time. However, the cloud alternative represents a fundamentally different business model, one where, unlike the legacy purchase model, a user of cloud services does not ever own the underlying assets.

While this isn’t yet another article about the leases standard, it’s useful to step through some of the sensitivities in financial metrics under the leasing standard. While cloud services are likely to result in a differing accounting treatment, the all too familiar concerns in lease accounting are still relevant.

Sale and leaseback accounting under IFRS 16

09/12/202125/02/2019 by 75385885

Sale and leaseback accounting

A sale and lease back transaction is a popular way for entities to secure long-term financing from substantial property, plant and equipment assets such as land and buildings. IFRS 16 made significant changes to sale and lease back accounting in comparison with IAS 17. A sale and leaseback transaction is one where an entity (the seller-lessee) transfers an asset to another entity (the buyer-lessor) for consideration and leases that asset back from the buyer-lessor.

The IFRS 16 guidance on ‘failed sales’ means that some sale-and-lease back transactions are accounted for as pure financing transactions by both lessors and lessees.

In a sale-and-lease back transaction, a company (the seller-lessee) transfers an underlying asset … Read more

Example accounting policies

21/09/202107/06/2021 by 75385885

Example accounting policies

Get the requirements for properly disclosing the accounting policies 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.

Example accounting policies guidance

Whether to disclose an accounting policy

1. In deciding whether a particular accounting policy should be disclosed, management considers whether disclosure would assist users in understanding how transactions, other events and conditions are reflected in the reported financial performance and financial position. Disclosure of particular accounting policies is especially useful to users where those policies are selected from alternatives allowed in IFRS. [IAS 1.119]

2. Some IFRSs specifically require disclosure of particular accounting policies, including choices made by management between different policies they allow. For example, IAS 16 Property, Plant and Equipment requires disclosure of the measurement bases used for classes of property, plant and equipment and IFRS 3 Business Combinations requires disclosure of the measurement basis used for non-controlling interest acquired during the period.

3. In this guidance, policies are disclosed that are specific to the entity and relevant for an understanding of individual line items in the financial statements, together with the notes for those line items. Other, more general policies are disclosed in the note 25 in the example below. Where permitted by local requirements, entities could consider moving these non-entity-specific policies into an Appendix.

Change in accounting policy – new and revised accounting standards

4. Where an entity has changed any of its accounting policies, either as a result of a new or revised accounting standard or voluntarily, it must explain the change in its notes. Additional disclosures are required where a policy is changed retrospectively, see note 26 for further information. [IAS 8.28]

5. New or revised accounting standards and interpretations only need to be disclosed if they resulted in a change in accounting policy which had an impact in the current year or could impact on future periods. There is no need to disclose pronouncements that did not have any impact on the entity’s accounting policies and amounts recognised in the financial statements. [IAS 8.28]

6. For the purpose of this edition, it is assumed that RePort Co. PLC did not have to make any changes to its accounting policies, as it is not affected by the interest rate benchmark reforms, and the other amendments summarised in Appendix D are only clarifications that did not require any changes. However, this assumption will not necessarily apply to all entities. Where there has been a change in policy, this will need to be explained, see note 26 for further information.

Contract costs from Contracts with Customers

20/09/202127/02/2019 by 75385885

Contract costs from Contracts with Customers

– IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers (contents page is here) introduced a single and comprehensive framework which sets out how much revenue is to be recognised, and when. The core principle is that a vendor should recognise revenue to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the vendor expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. See a summary of IFRS 15 here. Contract costs from Contracts with Customers

Contract costs are initially recognised as an asset and expensed on a systematic basis that is consistent with the transfer to the customer of the good or service to which those costs relate. Contract costs comprise both incremental costs of obtaining a contract and costs to fulfill a contract. Contract costs from Contracts with Customers

Incremental costs of obtaining a contract

Incremental costs incurred in obtaining a contract are those that would not have been incurred had that individual contract not been obtained. This is restrictive and includes only costs such as a sales commission that is paid only if the contract is obtained, unless the costs can be explicitly recharged to a customer. Contract costs from Contracts with Customers

As a practical expedient, incremental costs of obtaining a contract can be recognised as an immediate expense rather than capitalised if the period over which they would otherwise be expensed (or amortized) is one year or less. Contract costs from Contracts with Customers

All other ongoing costs of running the business, including costs that are incurred with the intention of obtaining a contract with a customer, are not incremental and will be expensed unless they fall within the scope of another accounting standard (such as IAS 16 Property, Plant and Equipment) and are required to be accounted for as an asset.

The Statement of Cash Flows

16/09/202111/09/2019 by 75385885

Statement of Cash Flows

IAS 7.10 requires an entity to analyse its cash inflows and outflows into three categories:

Operating;
Investing; and
Financing.

IAS 7.6 defines these as follows:

‘Operating activities are the principal revenue producing activities of the entity and other activities that are not investing or financing activities.’

‘Investing activities are the acquisition and disposal of long-term assets and other investments not included in cash equivalents.’

‘Financing activities are activities that result in changes in the size and composition of the contributed equity and borrowings of the entity.’

1. Operating activities

It is often assumed that this category includes only those cash flows that arise from an entity’s principal revenue producing activities.

However, because cash flows arising from operating activities represents a residual category, which includes any cash flows that do not qualify to be recorded within either investing or financing activities, these can include cash flows that may initially not appear to be ‘operating’ in nature.

For example, the acquisition of land would typically be viewed as an investing activity, as land is a long-term asset. However, this classification is dependent on the nature of the entity’s operations and business practices. For example, an entity that acquires land regularly to develop residential housing to be sold would classify land acquisitions as an operating activity, as such cash flows relate to its principal revenue producing activities and therefore meet the definition of an operating cash flow.

2. Investing activities

An entity’s investing activities typically include the purchase and disposal of its intangible assets, property, plant and equipment, and interests in other entities that are not held for trading purposes. However, in an entity’s consolidated financial statements, cash flows from investing activities do not include those arising from changes in ownership interest of subsidiaries that do not result in a change in control, which are classified as arising from financing activities.

It should be noted that cash flows related to the sale of leased assets (when the entity is the lessor) may be classified as operating or investing activities depending on the specific facts and circumstances.

Cash flows from discontinued operations IFRS 5 – 2 Detailed Examples

16/09/202116/09/2021 by 75385885

Cash flows from discontinued operations – Detailed Examples

IAS 7 requires an entity to include all of its cash flows in the statement of cash flows, including those generated from both continuing and discontinued activities.

IFRS 5 Non-current Assets Held for Sale and Discontinued Operations requires an entity to disclose its net cash flows derived from operating, investing and financing activities in respect of discontinued operations. There are two ways in which this can be achieved:

===1) Presentation in the statement of cash flows

Net cash flows from each type of activity (operating, investing and financing) derived from discontinued operations are presented separately in the statement of cash flows.

===2) Presentation in a note

Cash flows from discontinued operations are included together with cash flows from continuing operations in each line item in the statement of cash flows. The net cash flows relating to each type of activity (operating, investing and financing) derived from discontinued operations are then disclosed separately in a note to the financial statements.

When a disposal group that meets the definition of a discontinued operation is classified as held for sale in the current period, and has not been realised/disposed of at the entity’s reporting date, the closing balance of cash and cash equivalents presented in the statement of cash flows will not reconcile to the cash and cash equivalents balances that are included in the statement of financial position at the reporting date.

This is because the cash and cash equivalents related to the disposal group are subsumed into the assets and liabilities of the disposal group and presented within the single line item in the statement of financial position.

Borrowing costs – Q&A IAS 23

15/09/202128/06/2019 by 75385885

Q&A Borrowing costs

Q&A Borrowing costs is a questions and answers lesson type of narrative following the captions of this rather simple IFRS Standard.

General scope and definitions
Borrowing costs eligible for capitalisation
Foreign exchange differences
Cessation of capitalisation
Interaction IAS 23 and IFRS 15 Construction contracts with customers

General scope and definitions

1.1 A qualifying asset is an asset that ‘necessarily takes a substantial period of time to get ready for its intended use or sale’. Is there any bright line for determining the ‘substantial period of time’?

No. IAS 23 does not define ‘substantial period of time’. Management exercises judgement when determining which assets are qualifying assets, taking into account, among other factors, the nature of the asset. An asset that normally takes more than a year to be ready for use will usually be a qualifying asset. Once management chooses the criteria and type of assets, it applies this consistently to those types of asset.

Management discloses in the notes to the financial statements, when relevant, how the assessment was performed, which criteria were considered and which types of assets are subject to capitalisation of borrowing costs.

1.2 The IASB has amended the list of costs that can be included in borrowing costs, as part of its 2008 minor improvement project. Will this change anything in practice?

The amendment eliminates inconsistencies between interest expense as calculated under IAS 23 and IFRS 9. IAS 23 refers to the effective interest rate method as described in IFRS 9. The calculation includes fees, transaction costs and amortisation of discounts or premiums relating to borrowings. These components were already included in IAS 23. However, IAS 23 also referred to ‘ancillary costs’ and did not define this term.

This could have resulted in a different calculation of interest expense than under IFRS 9. No significant impact is expected from this change. Alignment of the definitions means that management only uses one method to calculate interest expense.

Capitalisation of expenditure – 1 Complete answer

15/09/2021 by 75385885

Capitalisation of expenditure

Capitalisation of expenditure is only possible when one of the following situations occur:

Capital expenditure (including equipment repairs and maintenance)
Recording lease contracts – Right-of-Use Assets
Capitalisation of borrowing costs
Capitalisation of cloud computing costs
Capitalisation of intangible assets
Capitalisation of internally capitalized intangible assets
Research & development costs
Prepaid expenses

Capital expenditure (including equipment repairs and maintenance)

The cost of an item of property, plant and equipment under IAS 16 Property, plant and equipment shall be recognised as an asset if, and only if:

it is probable that future economic benefits associated with the item will flow to the entity; and
the cost of the item can be measured reliably. (IAS 16.7)

Investment property

Certain properties which are used on rental are classified as an investment property in which case IAS 40 Investment property will apply. Only tangible items which have a useful life of more than one period are classified as property, plant and equipment as per IAS 16. But refer to the words “more than one period” as more than one accounting period of 12 months.

Also, an entity shall determine a threshold limit commensurate to its size for recognizing a tangible item as property, plant and equipment. For example, a tangible item of insignificant amount although satisfying the definition of property, plant and equipment may be expensed.

Initial recognition of indirect costs

Items of property, plant and equipment may be acquired for safety or environmental reasons. The acquisition of such property plant and equipment, although not directly increasing the future economic benefits of any particular existing item of property, plant and equipment, may be necessary for an entity to obtain the future economic benefits from its other assets.

Such items of property plant and equipment qualify for recognition as assets because they enable an entity to derive future economic benefits from related assets in excess of what could be derived had those items not been acquired.

Subsequent recognition of indirect costs

Disclosure non-financial assets and liabilities example

05/07/2021 by 75385885

Disclosure non-financial assets and liabilities example

The guidance for this disclosure example is provided here.

8 Non-financial assets and liabilities

This note provides information about the group’s non-financial assets and liabilities, including:

specific information about each type of non-financial asset and non-financial liability
- property, plant and equipment (note 8(a))
- leases (note 8(b))
- investment properties (note 8(c))
- intangible assets (note 8(d))
- deferred tax balances (note 8(e))
- inventories (note 8(f))
- other assets, including assets classified as held for sale (note 8(g))
- employee benefit obligations (note 8(h))
- provisions (note 8(i))
accounting policies
information about determining the fair value of the assets and liabilities, including judgements and estimation uncertainty involved (note 8(j)).

8(a) Property, plant and equipment

Amounts in CU’000	Freehold land	Buildings	Furniture, fittings and equipment	Machinery and vehicles	Assets under construction	Total
At 1 January 2019
Cost or fair value	11,350	28,050	27,510	70,860	–	137,770
Accumulated depreciation	–	–	-7,600	-37,025	–	-44,625
Net carrying amount	11,350	28,050	19,910	33,835	–	93,145

Movements in 2019
Exchange differences	–	–	-43	-150	–	-193
Revaluation surplus	2,700	3,140	–	–	–	5,840
Additions	2,874	1,490	2,940	4,198	3,100	14,602
Assets classified as held for sale and other disposals	-424	–	-525	-2,215	–	3,164
Depreciation charge	–	-1,540	-2,030	-4,580	–	8,150
Closing net carrying amount	16,500	31,140	20,252	31,088	3,100	102,080

At 31 December 2019
Cost or fair value	16,500	31,140	29,882	72,693	3,100	153,315
Accumulated depreciation	–	–	-9,630	-41,605	–	-51,235
Net carrying amount	16,500	31,140	20,252	31,088	3,100	102,080

Movements in 2020
Exchange differences	–	–	-230	-570	–	-800
Revaluation surplus	3,320	3,923	–	–	–	7,243
Acquisition of subsidiary	800	3,400	1,890	5,720	–	11,810
Additions	2,500	2,682	5,313	11,972	3,450	25,917
Assets classified as held for sale and other disposals	-550	–	-5,985	-1,680	–	-8,215
Transfers	–	–	950	2,150	-3,100	–
Depreciation charge	–	-1,750	-2,340	-4,380	–	-8,470
Impairment loss (ii)	–	-465	-30	-180	–	-675
Closing net carrying amount	22,570	38,930	19,820	44,120	3,450	128,890

At 31 December 2020
Cost or fair value	22,570	38,930	31,790	90,285	3,450	187,025
Accumulated depreciation	–	–	-11,970	-46,165	–	-58,135
Net carrying amount	22,570	38,930	19,820	44,120	3,450	128,890

(i) Non-current assets pledged as security

Refer to note 24 for information on non-current assets pledged as security by the group.

(ii) Impairment loss and compensation

The impairment loss relates to assets that were damaged by a fire – refer to note 4(b) for details. The whole amount was recognised as administrative expense in profit or loss, as there was no amount included in the asset revaluation surplus relating to the relevant assets. [IAS 36.130(a)]

Change in ownership in a subsidiary – IFRS 10 Best complete read

30/06/2021 by 75385885

Change in ownership in a subsidiary

Accounting for a subsequent change in ownership in a subsidiary, i.e. a change in the parent’s ownership interest in a subsidiary may result from a purchase or sale of shares by the parent or from transactions between the subsidiary and non-controlling interests.

This narrative discusses the accounting for changes in ownership interests that:

do not result in loss of control of the subsidiary
do result in loss of control of the subsidiary

Change in ownership in a subsidiary that do not result in loss of control

Non-controlling interests (NCI) in a subsidiary are presented as a separate component of equity in the consolidated statement of financial position. Consequently, changes in a parent’s ownership interest in a subsidiary that do not result in loss of control are accounted for as equity transactions.

Parent’s accounting treatment:

When the NCI in a subsidiary changes but the same parent retains control: (IFRS 10.23, IFRS 10.B96)

no gain or loss is recognised when the parent sells shares (so increasing NCI)
a parent’s purchase of additional shares in the subsidiary (so reducing NCI) does not result in additional goodwill or other adjustments to the initial accounting for the business combination
in both situations, the carrying amount of the parent’s equity and NCI’s share of equity is adjusted to reflect changes in their relative ownership interest in the subsidiary. Any difference between the amount of NCI adjustment and the fair value of the consideration received or paid is recognised in equity, attributed to the parent [IFRS 10.B96]
the parent should also take the following into consideration:
- the allocated amounts of accumulated OCI (including cumulative exchange differences relating to foreign operations) are adjusted to reflect the changed ownership interests of the parent and the NCI. The re-attribution of accumulated OCI is similarly treated as an equity transaction (ie a transfer between the parent and the NCI)
- for a partial disposal of a subsidiary with foreign operations, the parent must re-attribute the proportionate share of cumulative exchange differences recognised in OCI to NCI in that foreign operation [IAS 21.48C]
- IFRS 10 has no specific guidance for costs directly related to changes in ownership interests. In our view, costs that are incremental should be deducted from equity (consistent with IAS 32’s rules on other types of transaction in the entity’s own equity).