IASB Follows FASB in 1-Year Delay on Revenue Recognition Standard

The International Accounting Standards Board confirmed Wednesday a one-year deferral of the effective date of the revenue recognition standard to stay in alignment with the Financial Standards Accounting Board, which also recently decided to defer the standard for companies in the U.S.

The effective date of the standard, known as IFRS 15 abroad, has been pushed back to Jan. 1, 2018. The IASB voted to confirm the one-year deferral, following a public consultation.

FASB and the IASB issued the revenue recognition standard in May 2014 after more than a decade of work on harmonizing U.S. GAAP with International Financial Reporting Standards. Companies applying IFRS will continue to have the option to apply the standard earlier if they wish to do so.

“The deferral will give companies more time to implement the standard in view of the clarifications that we will propose shortly,” said IASB chairman Hans Hoogervorst in a statement. "It also keeps the effective date aligned for IFRS and U.S. GAAP.”

Earlier this month, FASB voted to defer the effective date of the revenue recognition standard under U.S. GAAP for one year, with early adoption permitted (see FASB Votes to Defer Revenue Recognition Standard). As a result, public business entities, certain not-for-profit entities, and certain employee benefit plans in the U.S. will apply the new revenue standard to annual reporting periods beginning after Dec. 15, 2017. All other entities will apply the new revenue standard to annual reporting periods beginning after Dec. 15, 2018. Public business entities, certain not-for-profit entities, and certain employee benefit plans will apply the new revenue standard to interim reporting periods within annual reporting periods beginning after Dec. 15, 2017 (that is, beginning in the first interim period within the year of adoption). All other entities will apply the new revenue standard to interim reporting periods within annual reporting periods beginning after Dec. 15, 2019 (that is, all other entities will not be required to apply the guidance in the new revenue standard in interim periods within the year of adoption).

The IASB said formal amendment to the standard, specifying the new effective date, is expected to be issued in September. Later this month the IASB will publish for public consultation some proposed clarifications to the Standard to help companies with implementation. These clarifications follow discussions at the Transition Resource Group, which was established by the IASB and the FASB to support companies in implementing the standard. The two boards set up the group last year and it has recommended better guidance in areas such as performance obligations and licensing.