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COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 108/2006 of 11 January 2006 amending Regulation (EC) No 1725/2003 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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APPENDIX B

Application guidance

This appendix is an integral part of the IFRS.

Classes of financial instruments and level of disclosure (paragraph 6)

B1. Paragraph 6 requires an entity to group financial instruments into classes that are appropriate to the nature of the information disclosed and that take into account the characteristics of those financial instruments. The classes described in paragraph 6 are determined by the entity and are, thus, distinct from the categories of financial instruments specified in IAS 39 (which determine how financial instruments are measured and where changes in fair value are recognised).

B2. In determining classes of financial instrument, an entity shall, at a minimum:

(a) distinguish instruments measured at amortised cost from those measured at fair value.

(b) treat as a separate class or classes those financial instruments outside the scope of this IFRS.

B3. An entity decides, in the light of its circumstances, how much detail it provides to satisfy the requirements of this IFRS, how much emphasis it places on different aspects of the requirements and how it aggregates information to display the overall picture without combining information with different characteristics. It is necessary to strike a balance between overburdening financial statements with excessive detail that may not assist users of financial statements and obscuring important information as a result of too much aggregation. For example, an entity shall not obscure important information by including it among a large amount of insignificant detail. Similarly, an entity shall not disclose information that is so aggregated that it obscures important differences between individual transactions or associated risks.

Significance of financial instruments for financial position and performance

Financial liabilities at fair value through profit or loss (paragraphs 10 and 11)

B4. If an entity designates a financial liability as at fair value through profit or loss, paragraph 10(a) requires it to disclose the amount of change in the fair value of the financial liability that is attributable to changes in the liability’s credit risk. Paragraph 10(a)(i) permits an entity to determine this amount as the amount of change in the liability’s fair value that is not attributable to changes in market conditions that give rise to market risk. If the only relevant changes in market conditions for a liability are changes in an observed (benchmark) interest rate, this amount can be estimated as follows:

(a) First, the entity computes the liability’s internal rate of return at the start of the period using the observed market price of the liability and the liability’s contractual cash flows at the start of the period. It deducts from this rate of return the observed (benchmark) interest rate at the start of the period, to arrive at an instrument-specific component of the internal rate of return.

(b) Next, the entity calculates the present value of the cash flows associated with the liability using the liability’s contractual cash flows at the end of the period and a discount rate equal to the sum of (i) the observed (benchmark) interest rate at the end of the period and (ii) the instrument-specific component of the internal rate of return as determined in (a).

(c) The difference between the observed market price of the liability at the end of the period and the amount determined in (b) is the change in fair value that is not attributable to changes in the observed (benchmark) interest rate. This is the amount to be disclosed.

This example assumes that changes in fair value arising from factors other than changes in the instrument’s credit risk or changes in interest rates are not significant. If the instrument in the example contains an embedded derivative, the change in fair value of the embedded derivative is excluded in determining the amount to be disclosed in accordance with paragraph 10(a).

Other disclosure — accounting policies (paragraph 21)

B5. Paragraph 21 requires disclosure of the measurement basis (or bases) used in preparing the financial statements and the other accounting policies used that are relevant to an understanding of the financial statements. For financial instruments, such disclosure may include:

(a) for financial assets or financial liabilities designated as at fair value through profit or loss:

(i) the nature of the financial assets or financial liabilities the entity has designated as at fair value through profit or loss;

(ii) the criteria for so designating such financial assets or financial liabilities on initial recognition; and

(iii) how the entity has satisfied the conditions in paragraph 9, 11A or 12 of IAS 39 for such designation. For instruments designated in accordance with paragraph (b)(i) of the definition of a financial asset or financial liability at fair value through profit or loss in IAS 39, that disclosure includes a narrative description of the circumstances underlying the measurement or recognition inconsistency that would otherwise arise. For instruments designated in accordance with paragraph (b)(ii) of the definition of a financial asset or financial liability at fair value through profit or loss in IAS 39, that disclosure includes a narrative description of how designation at fair value through profit or loss is consistent with the entity’s documented risk management or investment strategy.

(b) the criteria for designating financial assets as available for sale.

(c) whether regular way purchases and sales of financial assets are accounted for at trade date or at settlement date (see paragraph 38 of IAS 39).

(d) when an allowance account is used to reduce the carrying amount of financial assets impaired by credit losses:

(i) the criteria for determining when the carrying amount of impaired financial assets is reduced directly (or, in the case of a reversal of a write-down, increased directly) and when the allowance account is used; and

(ii) the criteria for writing off amounts charged to the allowance account against the carrying amount of impaired financial assets (see paragraph 16).

(e) how net gains or net losses on each category of financial instrument are determined (see paragraph 20(a)), for example, whether the net gains or net losses on items at fair value through profit or loss include interest or dividend income.

(f) the criteria the entity uses to determine that there is objective evidence that an impairment loss has occurred (see paragraph 20(e)).

(g) when the terms of financial assets that would otherwise be past due or impaired have been renegotiated, the accounting policy for financial assets that are the subject of renegotiated terms (see paragraph 36(d)).

Paragraph 113 of IAS 1 also requires entities to disclose, in the summary of significant accounting policies or other notes, the judgements, apart from those involving estimations, that management has made in the process of applying the entity’s accounting policies and that have the most significant effect on the amounts recognised in the financial statements.

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