Summary of IFRS 1
Objective
IFRS 1 First-time Adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards sets out the procedures that an entity must follow when it adopts IFRSs for the first time as the basis for preparing its general purpose financial statements.
Note: An entity that conducts rate-regulated activities and has recognised amounts in its previous GAAP financial statements that meet the definition of 'regulatory deferral account balances' (sometimes referred to 'regulatory assets' and 'regulatory liabilities') can optionally apply IFRS 14 Regulatory Deferral Accounts in addition to IFRS 1. An entity that elects to apply IFRS 14 in its first IFRS financial statements must continue to apply it in subsequent financial statements.
Definition of first-time adoption
A first-time adopter is an entity that, for the first time, makes an explicit and unreserved statement that its general purpose financial statements comply with IFRSs. [IFRS 1.3]
An entity may be a first-time adopter if, in the preceding year, it prepared IFRS financial statements for internal management use, as long as those IFRS financial statements were not made available to owners or external parties such as investors or creditors. If a set of IFRS financial statements was, for any reason, made available to owners or external parties in the preceding year, then the entity will already be considered to be on IFRSs, and IFRS 1 does not apply. [IFRS 1.3]
An entity can also be a first-time adopter if, in the preceding year, its financial statements: [IFRS 1.3]
asserted compliance with some but not all IFRSs, or included only a reconciliation of selected figures from previous GAAP to IFRSs. (Previous GAAP means the GAAP that an entity followed immediately before adopting to IFRSs.)
However, an entity is not a first-time adopter if, in the preceding year, its financial statements asserted:
Compliance with IFRSs even if the auditor's report contained a qualification with respect to conformity with IFRSs. Compliance with both previous GAAP and IFRSs.
An entity that applied IFRSs in a previous reporting period, but whose most recent previous annual financial statements did not contain an explicit and unreserved statement of compliance with IFRSs can choose to:
apply the requirements of IFRS 1 (including the various permitted exemptions to full retrospective application), or retrospectively apply IFRSs in accordance with IAS 8 Accounting Policies, Changes in Accounting Estimates and Errors, as if it never stopped applying IFRSs. [IFRS 1.4A
