Changes to Standards Relevant to 2013-14 Financial Statements

Changes to Standards

Relevant to 2013-14 Financial Statements

Audience

This Changes to Standardsis intended to assist:CFOs and CFO Units in all Commonwealth entities in the preparation of their 2013-14 financial statements.

At a glance

This Changes to Standards:

• Provides compiled lists of changes to standards and interpretations (Australian Accounting Standards (AASs)) that are complete for AASs issued up until 30 June 2014. Entities must consider any further AASs issued after this date up untilthe date their financial statements are signed (useful link: AASB Latest News[1]).
• Entities are required to determine the impact of each of these changes on their reporting and make appropriate disclosures in Note 1 of their financial statements as per AASB108 Accounting Policies, Changes in Accounting Estimates and Errors (paragraphs28–31) and the 2013-14 PRIMA Forms of Financial Statements (PRIMA Forms).
• Entities are only required to make individual disclosure of AASs that have had a material effect, or are expected to have a material impact, on the entity as per AASB108. For AASs that are not disclosed (because there was no material effect etc) the entity mustmake a statement to this effect. The prescribed format for the disclosures is in PRIMA Forms Note1.X New AASs.
• Entities will need to demonstrate to the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) that they have considered the impact of each of the AASs. The lists can be used as a starting point in this process.

For further information, please email Budget Estimates and Accounting (BEA) at .

Changes to Standards (AASs)

Applicable to the 2013-14 financial year

There wereextensive changes to AASs (see List A below), totalling 89 new/revised AASs and an amending conceptual framework AAS; however these were mostly in relation to consolidation and joint arrangements[2], and reduced disclosure requirements for Tier2 entities[3]. There were also changes regarding fair value measurement and employee benefits, as well asother minor amendments.

It is recommended that entities obtain details of significant changes to simplify their analysisand to assist in preparing the “Adoption of New AAS Requirements” section within Note1.X. Additional sources are referred to within this section of the PRIMA Note.

Applicable to future reporting periods

While not directly relevant for 2013-14 (outside of the disclosure requirements for Note1), entities are advised that there are various changes to AASs affecting future years (see List B below and Attachment A).

It is recommended that entities obtain details of significant expected changes to simplify their analysis and to assist in preparing the “Future AAS Requirements” section within Note1.X.Additional sources are referred to within this section of the PRIMA Note.

List A: 2013-14 financial year

List B: Future reporting periods

[1] This link to the Australian Accounting Standards Board’s (AASB) News page is provided to assist entities in this process as it contains the latest news from the AASB (including recently issued AASs). Entities are also able to access the AASs from this link.

[2] Deferred application (of one year) for the not-for-profit (NFP) sector resulting in separate AASs for both the for-profit (FP) and NFP sectors (as indicated with either a ‘NFP’ or a ‘FP’ in their title), where applicable.

[3] Not applicable for entities under Division11 of the Finance Minister’s Orders for Financial Reporting (FMOs).

[4]Items marked as ‘no’ likely impact (i.e. an  in the ‘No’ column) are those items that the Department of Finance (Finance) would regard as unlikely to have impact on public sector entities. This does not mean entities should not consider their particular circumstances. Please note the assessment of ‘likely impact’ is broader than the requirements of AASB108.28-31 as it considers issues such as disclosure requirements and the capturing of financial information.

[5]With reference to the ‘Changes to Standards Applicable to the 2013-14 financial year’ above, for the 2014-15 financial year the “FP” version (as shown in List A) or an updated version (where applicable) will also apply to NFP entities (these AASs have not been reproduced in List B).

[6] As per the AAS; this indicates the beginning (or end, if noted) of the first annual reporting period (calendar or financial) to which the version of the AAS applies. For instance, if an AAS has a calendar operative date of ‘1Jan20X1’ as shown in List B, the application date for an entity with a 30 June year end (financial) would instead be ‘1July’ of that same year (i.e. 1July 20X1).

[7] See the footnote to ‘Likely impact?’ in List A. Also, items not marked as ‘no’ likely impact by Finance in List B are further analysed in AttachmentA in terms of AASB108’s requirements.