IASB Proposes Changes in Revenue Recognition Standard

The International Accounting Standards Board has proposed making some clarifications to the revenue recognition standard that it released last year with the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board.

The proposed targeted amendments follow discussions at meetings of the joint Transition Resource Group that was set up by the IASB and FASB to help companies implement the new revenue recognition standard after it was issued in May 2014. The changes are similar to ones that FASB also proposed over two months ago in the areas of licensing revenue and performance obligations (see FASB Proposes Tweaks to Revenue Recognition Guidance).

The two boards are trying to stay in sync after releasing the long awaited revenue recognition standard last year after more than a decade of work on converging U.S. GAAP with International Financial Reporting Standards. They decided earlier this month to defer the effective date of the revenue recognition standard for one year until 2018 to give companies more time to adjust to them, while also allowing for early adoption on the original effective date (see IASB Follows FASB in 1-Year Delay on Revenue Recognition Standard).

The IASB issued an exposure draft Thursday proposing to clarify how to identify the performance obligations in a contract; how to determine whether a party involved in a transaction is the principal (responsible for providing the goods or services) or the agent (responsible for arranging for the goods or services to be provided to the customer); and how to determine whether a licence provides the customer with a right to access or a right to use the entity’s intellectual property.

In addition, the IASB has proposed two types of relief to aid the transition to the new revenue recognition standard.

The consultation on the exposure draft proposals is open for comment until Oct. 28, 2015.  The IASB said it expects to complete its discussions on these issues by the end of 2015, after which the final amendments to the standard will be issued.