Guides
For more information on these guides or the issues raised in them please click here to contact Mark Hucklesby, National Technical Director.
Navigating the changes to International Financial Reporting Standards: a briefing for Chief Financial Officers
This publication is designed to give Chief Financial Officers a high-level awareness of recent changes to International Financial Reporting Standards that will affect companies' future financial reporting. It covers both new Standards and Interpretations that have been issued and amendments made to existing ones.
This edition has been updated for changes to International Financial Reporting Standards that have been published between 1 December 2011 and 30 November 2012.The publication now covers 31 March 2012, 30 June 2012, 30 September 2012, 31 December 2012 and 31 March 2013 financial year ends.
Under control?
A practical guide to applying IFRS 10 Consolidated Financial Statements, August 2012
IAS 7: Statement of Cash Flows – a guide to avoiding common pitfalls and application issues
Grant Thornton has extensive insights into the statements of cash flows. The objectives of this guide are to:
- remind management of the basic requirements of IAS 7
- highlight interpretative and practical application issues
- provide management with insights to address these issues.
Navigating the accounting for business combinations
The aims of the publication are to assist management in:
- planning and negotiating the terms of the business combinations - identifying how alternative deal strategies can affect an acquirer's reported results and financial position
- preparing to report the effects of the transaction - by noting key information requirements, accounting policy options and areas where specialist advice might be needed
- applying IFRS 3 - by summarising the requirements, using extensive examples to explain their application and highlighting possible problem areas.
Preparing for global lease accounting standards
Preparing for global lease accounting standards examines the status of the proposed lease accounting standards and offers real estate executives’ perceptions—from Australia, Canada, India, the UK, and the United States—of the standards’ potential impact.
Reporting under the IFRS for SMEs
This publication sets out a realistic illustration of financial statements prepared in accordance with the IFRS for Small and Medium-sized Entities (IFRS for SMEs), along with extensive guidance notes to explain the underlying requirements and alternative disclosure and presentation approaches available.
Our objective in preparing the publication was to illustrate one possible approach to financial reporting by an entity engaging in transactions that are 'typical' across a range of non-specialist sectors. However, as with any example, this illustration does not envisage every possible transaction.
Other approaches may be more appropriate in specific circumstances.
Unfortunately New Zealand is one of the few countries that has not adopted IFRS for SMEs as an alternative to the complex IFRS accounting standards that the International Accounting Standards Board has admitted are generally designed solely for listed companies.
Current indications are that New Zealand looks set to follow Australia and pursue a Reduced Disclosure Regime (RDR) that uses the IFRS for SMEs financial statements disclosures as a base. In contrast to NZ IFRS Differential Reporting as it currently stands, RDR provides no recognition and measurement concessions.
Deferred tax – A Chief Financial Officer’s guide to avoiding the pitfalls
For many finance executives the concepts underlying deferred tax are not intuitive. Applying the concepts not only requires a thorough knowledge of relevant tax laws, properly understanding the mechanistic approach of IAS 12 is also needed. This guide reflects the collective experience of Grant Thornton International’s IFRS team in dealing with key application issues relating to accounting for income taxes. The guide has been revised to reflect changes made to IAS 12 up to 31 December 2012.
Financial Instruments on Display - Illustrative Disclosures and Guidance on IFRS 7
Experience has shown that IFRS 7 presents challenges, and two years of practical experience enables Grant Thornton to share our insights into the most problematic areas. Moreover, the global financial crisis has put the spotlight on the adequacy of risk and other disclosures concerning financial instruments. The crisis has also led the IASB to add some significant new requirements to IFRS 7 in recent months.
Operating Segments - Applying IFRS 8 in Practice
This guide explains the challenging aspects of IFRS 8.
IFRS 8 requires entities within its scope to publish information reported internally to the chief operating decision maker (CODM). It is information the CODM uses to assess performance and allocate resources. This is a radically different approach from its predecessor, IAS 14 Segment Reporting and so has the potential to highlight sensitive information to competitors as well as other users of financial statements. This guide explains IFRS 8's key implementation issues and includes interpretational guidance in the more problematic areas. The guide also includes several examples illustrating the standard's requirements.
The Road to IFRS - A practical guide to applying IFRS 1 and first-time adoption
This guide identifies and comments on the demanding requirements of IFRS 1.
For companies, the conversion to IFRS is a major change both for the finance function and for the wider business. In planning the conversion, management must develop a detailed and specific understanding of IFRS 1's implications on their business. This guide explains IFRS 1's key implementation issues and includes interpretational guidance in the more problematic areas. The guide also includes several examples illustrating the standard's disclosure and presentation requirements
Capitalisation of borrowing costs - from theory to practice
This guide will help companies correctly apply IAS 23 (revised).The previous benchmark treatment of recognising borrowing costs as an expense has been removed. Instead, borrowing costs that are directly attributable to the acquisition, construction or production of a qualifying asset will form part of the cost of that asset under the new standard.
Although the concept of capitalising borrowing costs is simple and familiar to many, putting that concept into practice frequently leads to questions. Many of these questions are considered in this guide, which also includes several examples illustrating the capitalisation of borrowing costs.
Financial Instruments - a Chief Financial Officer's guide to avoiding the traps
This guide is intended for Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) of businesses that prepare financial statements under IFRS.
It summarises the impact of IAS 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement together with relevant parts of IAS 32 Financial Instruments: Presentation.
It also looks at the main challenges that businesses typically encounter in order to help CFOs to prioritise and identify key issues. The guide will help a CFO to understand potential problem areas in order to know when to consult further.
Liability or equity? A practical guide to the classification of financial instruments under IAS 32
When an entity issues a financial instrument, it must determine its classification either as a liability (debt) or as equity. That determination has an immediate and significant effect on the entity's reported results and financial position. Liability classification affects an entity's gearing ratios and typically results in any payments being treated as interest and charged to earnings. Equity classification avoids these impacts but may be perceived negatively by investors if it is seen as diluting their existing equity interests. Understanding the classification process and its effects is therefore a critical issue for management and must be kept in mind when evaluating alternative financing options. This publication offers extensive insights into some of the more problematic aspects of debt and equity classification under IAS 32 Financial Instruments: Presentation.