Accounting Miscellany

IFRS Accounting Standards sometimes permit or require some income and/or expenses to be presented outside profit or loss in ‘other comprehensive income’ (OCI). This post summarises how this came about, what the IASB’s Conceptual Framework says about OCI and how investors use information about items in OCI. The post then discusses whether the IASB should… Continue reading OCI: some steps forward, but is more needed?

Newspaper articles often say or imply that the national debt risks exploding if it exceeds 100% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Some such articles even say this more directly by talking about national debt becoming ‘larger than the economy’, by which they appear to mean ‘exceeding 100% of GDP’. Such articles rarely say why the… Continue reading Stocks, flows and national debt

IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts requires the discount rate for insurance liabilities to reflect the characteristics of the insurance liabilities, including their liability characteristics. IFRS Accounting Standards dealing with other types of liability do not typically mention liquidity. This post explains why IFRS 17 addresses this topic. This post covers: This post discusses only the discount… Continue reading Liability discount rates and liquidity