International GAAP® 2019: Generally Accepted Accounting Practice under International Financial Reporting Standards
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year-end
30/6/2019
30/6/2018
31/12/2018
Statement of financial position
●
●
Statement(s) of profit or loss and other
comprehensive income
– Current period and year-to-date
(6 months) ending
●
●
– 12 months ending
○
○
Statement of changes in equity
– Year-to date (6 months) ending
●
●
– 12 months ending
○
○
Statement of cash flows
– Year-to-date (6 months) ending
●
●
– 12 months ending
○
○
● Required ○
Disclosure encouraged if the entity’s business is highly seasonal
If an entity publishes a separate interim financial report for the final interim period (i.e. second half of its
financial year), it presents the following financial statements (condensed or complete) in its second half-
yearly interim financial report as of 31 December 2019:
End of the
End of the current comparative
Second half-yearly interim report
interim period
interim period
31/12/2019
31/12/2018
Statement of financial position
●
●
Statement(s) of profit or loss and other
comprehensive income
– Current period (6 months) ending
●
●
– Year-to-date (12 months) ending
●
●
Statement of changes in equity
– Year-to-date (12 months) ending
●
●
Statement of cash flows
– Year-to-date (12 months) ending
●
●
● Required
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Example 37.4: Entity publishes interim financial reports quarterly
If an entity’s financial year ends on 31 December (calendar year), it should present the following financial
statements (condensed or complete) in its quarterly interim financial reports for 2019:
End of the
Immediately
End of the current comparative
preceding
First quarter interim report
interim period
interim period
year-end
31/3/2019
31/3/2018
31/12/2018
Statement of financial position
●
●
Statement(s) of profit or loss and other
comprehensive income
– Current period and year-to-date
(3 months) ending
●
●
– 12 months ending
○
○
Statement of changes in equity
– Year-to-date (3 months) ending
●
●
– 12 months ending
○
○
Statement of cash flows
– Year-to-date (3 months) ending
●
●
– 12 months ending
○
○
● Required ○
Disclosure encouraged if the entity’s business is highly seasonal
End of the
Immediately
End of the current comparative
preceding
Second quarter interim report
interim period
interim period
year-end
30/6/2019
30/6/2018
31/12/2018
Statement of financial position
●
●
Statement(s) of profit or loss and other
comprehensive income
– Current period (3 months) ending
●
●
– Year-to-date (6 months) ending
●
●
– 12 months ending
○
○
Statement of changes in equity
– Year-to-date (6 months) ending
●
●
– 12 months ending
○
○
Statement of cash flows
– Year-to-date (6 months) ending
●
●
– 12 months ending
○
○
● Required ○
Disclosure encouraged if the entity’s business is highly seasonal
Interim financial reporting 3087
End of the
End of the
Immediately
current interim
comparative
preceding
Third quarter interim report
period
interim period
year-end
30/9/2019
30/9/2018
31/12/2018
Statement of financial position
●
●
Statement(s) of profit or loss and other
comprehensive income
– Current period (3 months) ending
●
●
– Year-to-date (9 months) ending
●
●
– 12 months ending
○
○
Statement of changes in equity
– Year-to-date (9 months) ending
●
●
– 12 months ending
○
○
Statement of cash flows
– Year-to-date (9 months) ending
●
●
– 12 months ending
○
○
● Required ○
Disclosure encouraged if the entity’s business is highly seasonal
If an entity publishes a separate interim financial report for the final interim period (i.e. fourth quarter of its
financial year), it presents the following financial statements (condensed or complete) in its fourth quarter
interim financial report as of 31 December 2019:
End of the
End of the
current interim
comparative
Fourth quarter interim report
period
interim period
31/12/2019
31/12/2018
Statement of financial position
●
●
Statement(s) of profit or loss and other
comprehensive income
– Current period (3 months) ending
●
●
– Year-to-date (12 months) ending
●
●
Statement of changes in equity
– Year-to-date (12 months) ending
●
●
Statement of cash flows
– Year-to-date (12 months) ending
●
●
● Required
5.1
Other comparative information
For entities presenting condensed financial statements under IAS 34, there is no explicit
requirement that comparative information be presented in the explanatory notes.
Nevertheless, where an explanatory note is required by the standard (such as for
inventory write-downs, impairment provisions, segment revenues etc.) or otherwise
; determined to be needed to provide useful information about changes in the financial
position and performance of the entity since the end of the last annual reporting period,
[IAS 34.15], it would be appropriate to provide information for each period presented.
However, in certain cases it would be unnecessary to provide comparative information
where this repeats information that was reported in the notes to the most recent annual
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financial statements. [IAS 34.15A]. For example, it would only be necessary to provide
information about business combinations in a comparative period when there is a
revision of previously disclosed fair values.
For entities presenting complete financial statements, whilst IAS 34 sets out the periods
for which components of the interim report are included, it is less clear how these rules
interact with IAS 1’s requirement to report comparative information for all amounts in
the financial statements. [IAS 1.38]. In our view, a complete set of interim financial
statements that contains a statement of compliance under IAS 1 should meet the
requirements of IAS 1 in full, irrespective of any apparent contradiction with IAS 34, as
shown in the example below.
Example 37.5: Disclosing movements on non-current assets in a complete set of
interim financial statements
An entity preparing complete IFRS financial statements is required to reconcile the carrying amount at the
beginning and end of the period showing movements during that period for both intangible assets and property,
plant and equipment. [IAS 38.118, IAS 16.73]. Therefore, an entity presenting complete IFRS financial statements
for the six months ended 30 June 2019 would disclose the movements in intangible assets and in property, plant
and equipment between 1 January 2019 and 30 June 2019. In our view, the requirement for comparatives in
IAS 1 requires the entity to reconcile movements during the comparative interim period, between
1 January 2018 and 30 June 2018, even though the entity is not required to present a statement of financial
position as at 30 June 2018 (as shown in Example 37.3 above).
In addition to presenting comparative information for the corresponding interim period,
it is suggested that entities preparing a complete set of interim financial statements also
include information for the previous full year, such as the required comparative
information for the current interim period and reconciliations to the previous year-end
statement of financial position. In Example 37.5 above, this requirement could be
achieved by reconciling movements in non-current assets during the second six months
of the previous year (between 1 July 2018 and 31 December 2018).
If an entity presents complete financial statements and restates comparative information
(e.g. following a change in accounting policy, correction of an error, or reclassification) and
this restatement is material, then the entity should present a third statement of financial
position at the beginning of the earliest comparative period in its interim financial reporting
accordance with IAS 1. [IAS 1.10(f)]. No such requirement applies in the case of an entity
preparing a condensed set of interim financial statements, [IAS 1.BC33], however, additional
disclosures are required in the case of correction of prior period errors, [IAS 34.15B(g)], or
when accounting policies are changed, [IAS 34.16A(a)], (see 4.3.13 above).
5.2
Length of interim reporting period
IAS 34 does not limit interim reporting to quarterly or half-yearly periods; an interim
period may be any period shorter than a full year. [IAS 34.4]. Nevertheless, interim
reporting for a period other than quarterly or half-yearly is not a common practice.
5.3
Change in financial year-end
The requirement in IAS 34 to present a comparative statement of profit or loss and other
comprehensive income ‘for the comparable interim periods (current and year-to-date) of
the immediately preceding financial year’, [IAS 34.20], can give rise to diversity in practice
Interim financial reporting 3089
in the case of an entity that changes its annual financial reporting date. For example, an
entity changing its reporting date from 31 December to 31 March would change its half-
yearly reporting date from 30 June to 30 September and therefore present its first half-
yearly report after its new annual reporting date for the six month period from 1 April to
30 September. A ‘comparable’ comparative interim period in this scenario could be taken
to mean the six months ended 30 September in the prior year, as illustrated in
Example 37.6 below.
Example 37.6: Entity changes financial year-end
If an entity changes its financial year-end from 31 December (calendar year) to 31 March, and first reflects
the change in its annual financial statements for the period ended 31 March 2019. It determines that the
requirement for comparable comparative information in IAS 34 requires it to present the following financial
statements (condensed or complete) in its half-yearly interim financial report for the six months ending
30 September 2019:
End of the
Immediately
End of the current comparative
preceding
Half-yearly interim report
interim period
interim period
year-end
30/9/2019
30/9/2018
31/03/2019
Statement of financial position
●
●
Statement(s) of profit or loss and other
comprehensive income
– Current period and year-to-
date (6 months) ending
●
●
– 12 months ending
○
○
Statement of changes in equity
– Year-to date (6 months) ending
●
●
– 12 months ending
○
○
Statement of cash flows
– Year-to-date (6 months) ending
●
●
– 12 months ending
○
○
● Required ○
Disclosure encouraged if the entity’s business is highly seasonal
The entity in the example above did not show information for the half-year ended
30 June 2018 as the comparative period, notwithstanding the fact that this period would
have been the reporting date for the last published half-yearly report.
Other interpretations of IAS 34 in this regard are also possible. As illustrated in
the Extract below, Sirius Minerals changed its annual financial reporting period-
end from March to December, which resulted in the company reporting on a
shorter (nine-month) annual financial period ended 31 December 2015. For its
next set of condensed interim financial statements (for the six months ended
30 June 2016), Sirius presented comparative information for the first six-months
of the previous annual financial period, being the six-months ended
30 September 2015. The company have also included information for the previous
annual reporting period (in this case the shortened nine-month period ended
31 December 2015), in common with many UK reporters who present comparative
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information for the previous annual reporting period in addition to the
information required by IAS 34.
Extract 37.28: Sirius Minerals Plc (interim ended June 2016)
Basis of Preparation [extract]
The condensed interim unaudited consolidated financial statements for the six-month period ended 30 June 2016
have been prepared in accordance with the Disclosure and Transparency Rules of the Financial Conduct Authority
and with IAS 34 ‘Interim Financial Reporting’ as adopted by the European Union (“EU”). As a result of changing
the accounting reference date, from 31 March to 31 December, these financial statements should be read in
conjunction with the condensed financial statements for the six-month period ended 30 September 2015 which have
been prepared in accordance with IFRSs as adopted by the EU. Comparability with the current period is maintained
due to the low seasonality of the Group’s operations.
The accounting policies applied are consistent with those of the Group financial statements for the nine-month period