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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

Content

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Objective

The objective of this Standard is to ensure that appropriate recognition criteria and measurement bases are applied to provisions, contingent liabilities and contingent assets and that sufficient information is disclosed in the notes to the financial statements to enable users to understand their nature, timing and amount.

Scope

1. This Standard shall be applied by all entities in accounting for provisions, contingent liabilities and contingent assets, except:

(a) those resulting from executory contracts, except where the contract is onerous;

(b) [deleted]

and

(c) those covered by another Standard.

2. This Standard does not apply to financial instruments (including guarantees) that are within the scope of IAS 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement.

3. Executory contracts are contracts under which neither party has performed any of its obligations or both parties have partially performed their obligations to an equal extent. This Standard does not apply to executory contracts unless they are onerous.

4. [deleted]

5. Where another Standard deals with a specific type of provision, contingent liability or contingent asset, an entity applies that Standard instead of this Standard. For example, IFRS 3 Business Combinations addresses the treatment by an acquirer of contingent liabilities assumed in a business combination. Similarly, certain types of provisions are also addressed in Standards on:

(a) construction contracts (see IAS 11, construction contracts);

(b) income taxes (see IAS 12, income taxes);

(c) leases (see IAS 17, leases). However, as IAS 17 contains no specific requirements to deal with operating leases that have become onerous, this Standard applies to such cases;

(d) employee benefits (see IAS 19, employee benefits); and

(e) insurance contracts (see IFRS 4 Insurance Contracts). However, this Standard applies to provisions, contingent liabilities and contingent assets of an insurer, other than those arising from its contractual obligations and rights under insurance contracts within the scope of IFRS 4.

6. Some amounts treated as provisions may relate to the recognition of revenue, for example where an enterprise gives guarantees in exchange for a fee. This Standard does not address the recognition of revenue. IAS 18, revenue, identifies the circumstances in which revenue is recognised and provides practical guidance on the application of the recognition criteria. This Standard does not change the requirements of IAS 18.

7. This Standard defines provisions as liabilities of uncertain timing or amount. In some countries the term "provision" is also used in the context of items such as depreciation, impairment of assets and doubtful debts: these are adjustments to the carrying amounts of assets and are not addressed in this Standard.

8. Other International Accounting Standards specify whether expenditures are treated as assets or as expenses. These issues are not addressed in this Standard. Accordingly, this Standard neither prohibits nor requires capitalisation of the costs recognised when a provision is made.

9. This Standard applies to provisions for restructurings (including discontinued operations). When a restructuring meets the definition of a discontinued operation, additional disclosures may be required by IFRS 5 Non-current Assets Held for Sale and Discontinued Operations.

Definitions

10. The following terms are used in this Standard with the meanings specified:

A provision is a liability of uncertain timing or amount.

A liability is a present obligation of the enterprise arising from past events, the settlement of which is expected to result in an outflow from the enterprise of resources embodying economic benefits.

An obligating event is an event that creates a legal or constructive obligation that results in an enterprise having no realistic alternative to settling that obligation.

A legal obligation is an obligation that derives from:

(a) a contract (through its explicit or implicit terms);

(b) legislation; or

(c) other operation of law.

A constructive obligation is an obligation that derives from an enterprise's actions where:

(a) by an established pattern of past practice, published policies or a sufficiently specific current statement, the enterprise has indicated to other parties that it will accept certain responsibilities; and

(b) as a result, the enterprise has created a valid expectation on the part of those other parties that it will discharge those responsibilities.

A contingent liability is:

(a) a possible obligation that arises from past events and whose existence will be confirmed only by the occurrence or non-occurrence of one or more uncertain future events not wholly within the control of the enterprise; or

(b) a present obligation that arises from past events but is not recognised because:

(i) it is not probable that an outflow of resources embodying economic benefits will be required to settle the obligation; or

(ii) the amount of the obligation cannot be measured with sufficient reliability.

A contingent asset is a possible asset that arises from past events and whose existence will be confirmed only by the occurrence or non-occurrence of one or more uncertain future events not wholly within the control of the enterprise.

An onerous contract is a contract in which the unavoidable costs of meeting the obligations under the contract exceed the economic benefits expected to be received under it.

A restructuring is a programme that is planned and controlled by management, and materially changes either:

(a) the scope of a business undertaken by an enterprise; or

(b) the manner in which that business is conducted.

Provisions and other liabilities

11. Provisions can be distinguished from other liabilities such as trade payables and accruals because there is uncertainty about the timing or amount of the future expenditure required in settlement. By contrast:

(a) trade payables are liabilities to pay for goods or services that have been received or supplied and have been invoiced or formally agreed with the supplier; and

(b) accruals are liabilities to pay for goods or services that have been received or supplied but have not been paid, invoiced or formally agreed with the supplier, including amounts due to employees (for example, amounts relating to accrued vacation pay). Although it is sometimes necessary to estimate the amount or timing of accruals, the uncertainty is generally much less than for provisions.

Accruals are often reported as part of trade and other payables, whereas provisions are reported separately.

Relationship between provisions and contingent liabilities

12. In a general sense, all provisions are contingent because they are uncertain in timing or amount. However, within this Standard the term "contingent" is used for liabilities and assets that are not recognised because their existence will be confirmed only by the occurrence or non-occurrence of one or more uncertain future events not wholly within the control of the enterprise. In addition, the term "contingent liability" is used for liabilities that do not meet the recognition criteria.

13. This Standard distinguishes between:

(a) provisions - which are recognised as liabilities (assuming that a reliable estimate can be made) because they are present obligations and it is probable that an outflow of resources embodying economic benefits will be required to settle the obligations; and

(b) contingent liabilities - which are not recognised as liabilities because they are either:

(i) possible obligations, as it has yet to be confirmed whether the enterprise has a present obligation that could lead to an outflow of resources embodying economic benefits; or

(ii) present obligations that do not meet the recognition criteria in this Standard (because either it is not probable that an outflow of resources embodying economic benefits will be required to settle the obligation, or a sufficiently reliable estimate of the amount of the obligation cannot be made).

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