For those of us looking at the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) workplan, it is not unusual to see the expected dates for the next stage of a project slip (looking at you, ‘financial instruments with characteristics of equity’). This means it can become easy to lose track of where specific projects are up to. Admittedly, there may be mercifully few of us casting our eyes on financial reporting developments, but for those few, here are some updates on some significant developments.
Completed projects
‘Disclosures about uncertainties in financial statements’ began as an exposure draft on climate-related and other uncertainties, and the early examples were discussed in my earlier article ‘Disconnected climate reporting’. Since then, the project has been expanded by the IASB to cover uncertainties in general. The IASB felt that the principle-based nature of IFRS Accounting Standards meant that any actions resulting from the project would apply not only to uncertainties arising from climate-related risks but to uncertainties in general.
Climate disclosure uncertainties have been developed as examples
While it was felt that IFRS Accounting Standards were generally sufficient in requiring an entity to disclose information about the effects of uncertainties in the financial statements, some further illustrative examples have been developed.
To access these finalised examples in full does need a paid subscription to IFRS.org, but the IASB says the examples are broadly in line with the near-final staff draft of July 2025. The examples include:
- materiality judgments leading to additional disclosures
- materiality judgments not leading to additional disclosures
- disclosing assumptions under specific IFRS requirements, such as IAS 36, Impairment of Assets
- disclosing assumptions under the general requirements in IAS 1/IFRS 18, Presentation and Disclosure in Financial Statements
- disclosure about credit risk under IFRS 7, Financial Instruments: Disclosures
- disclosures about decommissioning and restoration provisions under IAS 37, Provisions, Contingent Liabilities, and Contingent Assets
- disclosure of disaggregated information under IFRS 18.
The examples will not lead to future standard-setting but will be included as illustrative examples within the IFRS Accounting Standards from 2026.
The other completed project was translation to a hyperinflationary presentation currency, which finalised the principles (see my earlier article ‘How to account for hyperinflation’), resulting in amendments to IAS 21, The Effects of Changes in Foreign Exchange Rates. This won’t have a wide application context, but will be applicable to any entity whose functional and presentational currency is the currency of a hyperinflationary economy but has a foreign operation whose functional currency is that of a non-hyperinflationary economy.
Postponed
The IASB undertakes semi-regular agenda consultation projects, where it canvasses opinion to help define what its priorities should be for the next season. With large projects such as intangible assets and cashflows still very much in their infancy, it did seem a little early to be thinking about other projects rather than keeping focus on the current ones. Indeed, some people strongly believe that this shouldn’t happen. A notable example is Peter Reilly (read his ‘Less is more in standard-setting’ article), who argues the IASB should currently focus on cashflows, business combinations and a meaningful discussion around intangibles – a position I would fully agree with.
The next IASB agenda consultation has been put back
Well, the good news for people like Peter is that the IASB has postponed its next agenda consultation. This may (or may not) have been a result of the responses from commenters, but the result is that it will be postponed and then released as a joint project with the ISSB agenda consultation process in late 2026.
Delayed
The next IFRS Accounting Standard to be issued, rate-regulated activities, was due to be released at the end of 2025 as a late gift, but this has now been pushed into the second quarter of 2026. This feels similar to a cinema delaying a film’s release to a quiet period to maximise its impact, and is clearly just as exciting.
Direction unclear
The final section brings us to the areas that could perhaps have the most significant impact. There are a number of reasonably high-profile projects that are listed as having the next stage of ‘decide project direction’ in the first half of 2026. These include the aforementioned cashflows, business combinations and intangible assets projects, plus a look at targeted improvements to provisions.
This leads us to a place where there could be some big decisions in early 2026. There will be a new IFRS Accounting Standard, and the big projects that may seem daunting may actually have an outline of where the IASB hopes to go. New years are often a source of new hope. Maybe this year can be one where some of these big projects take shape.
Watch and learn
See the latest video in Adam Deller’s financial reporting insights series, analysing amortisation at Netflix
