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Transition Effects from the Initial Adoption of IFRS 9 by Italian and German Blue Chip Companies



Author(s)

Knut Henkel, Marvin Bürger

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DOI:10.17265/1548-6583/2020.11.001

For the financial years from 2018, the new standard for accounting of financial instruments, IFRS 9, was applicable for the first time. Various questions arose in connection with the transition. For example, how high would the resulting transition effect be on equity? Another aspect related to the question of the extent to which the fair value measurement (through profit or loss) would increase. It is also of interest whether the previously presented IFRS 9 changes are classifiable as being material. Through the analysis of the financial statements of FTSE MIB and DAX 30 companies that were prepared for the first time in accordance with IFRS 9 in the year 2018, answers are given in this article to the aforementioned questions and a comparison is made regarding the extent to which national differences or commonalities existed. In the overall view of the absolute change in equity, for the FTSE MIB companies, a mean value of € - 3.03 million was calculated and for the DAX 30 companies, € - 34.29 million. The equity ratio (median), however, only declined marginally in percentage points with the FTSE MIB companies (-0.07), as well as with the DAX 30 companies (-0.02). With regard to the migration of financial assets, it has been shown that the accounting and measurement of more than 90% of financial assets of the FTSE MIB and DAX 30 companies have not changed. With the rest, the measurement net at fair value (through profit or loss) increased in both stock exchange segments. Nearly all changes to equity, the FTSE MIB, as well as DAX 30 companies, can be classified as immaterial. The extent to which the expansion of the measurement of financial instruments, which are measured at the fair value (through profit or loss) can be material, will ultimately depend on the individual case, in view of the future IFRS financial statements. This then depends on how high the actual change in fair value (through profit or loss) of these holdings is in a period in an individual case, in absolute and relative terms—for example, in proportion to the equity and the P&L. The latter also applies to FTSE MIB, as well as DAX 30 companies.

IFRS 9, financial instruments, transitions effects, DAX 30, FTSE MIB