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Commission Regulation (EC) No 1725/2003 of 29 September 2003 adopting certain international accounting standards in accordance with Regulation (EC)   No 1606/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council

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21. For an enterprise whose business is highly seasonal, financial information for the 12 months ending on the interim reporting date and comparative information for the prior 12-month period may be useful. Accordingly, enterprises whose business is highly seasonal are encouraged to consider reporting such information in addition to the information called for in the preceding paragraph.

22. Appendix A illustrates the periods required to be presented by an enterprise that reports half-yearly and an enterprise that reports quarterly.

Materiality

23. In deciding how to recognise, measure, classify, or disclose an item for interim financial reporting purposes, materiality should be assessed in relation to the interim period financial data. In making assessments of materiality, it should be recognised that interim measurements may rely on estimates to a greater extent than measurements of annual financial data.

24. IAS 1 Presentation of Financial Statements and IAS 8 Accounting Policies, Changes in Accounting Estimates and Errors define an item as material if its omission or misstatement could influence the economic decisions of users of the financial statements. IAS 1 requires separate disclosure of material items, including (for example) discontinuing operations, and IAS 8 requires disclosure of changes in accounting estimates, errors and changes in accounting policies. The two Standards do not contain quantified guidance as to materiality.

25. While judgement is always required in assessing materiality, this Standard bases the recognition and disclosure decision on data for the interim period by itself for reasons of understandability of the interim figures. Thus, for example, unusual items, changes in accounting policies or estimates, and errors are recognised and disclosed on the basis of materiality in relation to interim period data to avoid misleading inferences that might result from non-disclosure. The overriding goal is to ensure that an interim financial report includes all information that is relevant to understanding an entity’s financial position and performance during the interim period.

Disclosure in annual financial statements

26. If an estimate of an amount reported in an interim period is changed significantly during the final interim period of the financial year but a separate financial report is not published for that final interim period, the nature and amount of that change in estimate should be disclosed in a note to the annual financial statements for that financial year.

27. IAS 8 requires disclosure of the nature and (if practicable) the amount of a change in estimate that either has a material effect in the current period or is expected to have a material effect in subsequent periods. Paragraph 16(d) of this Standard requires similar disclosure in an interim financial report. Examples include changes in estimate in the final interim period relating to inventory write-downs, restructurings, or impairment losses that were reported in an earlier interim period of the financial year. The disclosure required by the preceding paragraph is consistent with the IAS 8 requirement and is intended to be narrow in scope—relating only to the change in estimate. An entity is not required to include additional interim period financial information in its annual financial statements.

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