IFRS 15

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IFRS 15 is an International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) promulgated by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) providing guidance on accounting for revenue from contracts with customers. It was adopted in 2014 and will become effective in 2017.^[1] It was the subject of a joint project with the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), which issues accounting guidance in the United States, and the guidance is substantially similar between the two boards.^[2]

History

A main purpose of the project to develop IFRS 15 was that, although revenue is a critical metric for financial statement users, there were important differences between the IASB and FASB definitions of revenue, and there were different definitions of revenue even within each board's guidance for similar transactions accounting for under different standards.^[2] The IASB also believed that their guidance for revenue was not detailed enough.^[2]

The IASB began working on its revenue project in 2002.^[3] The boards released their first discussion paper describing their views on accounting for revenue in 2008, and they released exposure drafts of a proposed standard in 2010 and 2011.^[3] The final standard was issued on 28 May 2014.^[2]

Revenue model

The IFRS 15 revenue model has five steps:^[1][3]

1. Identify the contract with a customer
2. Identify all the individual performance obligations within the contract
3. Determine the transaction price
4. Allocate the price to the performance obligations
5. Recognize revenue as the performance obligations are fulfilled

IFRS 15 also provides guidance for determining the amount of revenue to recognize when the transaction price is not fixed when the contract is initiated.^[3] It also provides guidance for when costs of acquiring or fulfilling to contract can be capitalized as an asset.^[1][3] Any expenses that are not capitalized as assets are expensed as incurred.^[3] The standard also requires extensive disclosures about a company's revenue.^[3]

Relative to previous accounting guidance, IFRS 15 may cause revenue to be recognized earlier in some cases, but later in others.^[4]

References