Introduction

IFRS 9 Financial Instruments (IFRS 9) was developed by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) to replace IAS 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement (IAS 39). IFRS 9 incorporates the requirements of all three phases of the IASB’s financial instruments project, being:

• Classification and Measurement,
• Impairment, and
• Hedge Accounting

The IAS 39 requirements related to recognition and derecognition were carried forward unchanged to IFRS 9.

Effective date

The effective date of IFRS 9 is annual periods commencing on or after 1 January 2018. There is a choice of full retrospective application (i.e. restating comparatives as if IFRS 9 had always been in force, provided that this can be done without the use of hindsight), or retrospective application without restatement of prior year comparatives. If comparatives are not restated, the cumulative impact of adoption being recorded as an adjustment to equity at the beginning of the accounting period in which the standard is first applied (the date of initial application).