Revenue from contracts with customers

A summary of IFRS 15 and its effectsMay 2015

Background The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) issued a comprehensive new revenue recognition standard that will supersede nearly all existing revenue recognition guidance under IFRS.

The standard’s core principle is that a company will recognise revenue when it transfers goods or services to customers at an amount that reflects the consideration to which the company expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. In doing so, companies will need to use more judgement and make more estimates than under today’s guidance.

The new standard will likely affect the measurement, recognition and disclosure of revenue, which is often a company’s most important financial performance indicator and the one most closely scrutinised by investors and analysts.

Gaining an understanding of the effects of the new standard, providing early communication to stakeholders and planning ahead are crucial for successful implementation. Even companies that do not expect significant changes in the measurement and timing of revenue will need to validate that assumption and identify any necessary changes to policies, procedures internal controls and systems to ensure that revenue transactions are appropriately evaluated through the lens of the new model.

In addition, companies need to plan for the significantly expanded disclosure requirements. For companies that will experience a significant change in revenue recognition as a result of the new standard, the implementation effort will be considerable.

IRFS 15 creates a single source of revenue guidance which will significantly impact many entities across various industries.

The new standard will likely affect the measurement, recognition and disclosure of revenue, which is often a company’s most important financial performance indicator and the one most closely scrutinised by investors and analysts.

What you need to know IFRS 15 creates a single source of revenue guidance for many entities across various industries. The new standard is a significant change in approach from current IFRS.

The new standard applies to revenue from contracts with customers and replaces all the revenue standards and interpretations currently issued in IFRS, i.e. IAS 11 Construction Contracts, IAS 18 Revenue, IFRIC 13 Customer Loyalty Programmes, IFRIC 15 Agreements for the Construction of Real Estate, IFRIC 18 Transfers of Assets from Customers and SIC-31 Revenue – Barter Transaction involving Advertising Services.

IFRS 15 is principles based and provides more application guidance than the current standards. Adoption is required for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2017, but early adoption is permitted under IFRS. Early preparation will be key to a successful implementation of the new standard.*

What is in scope or affected by the standard? • Contracts with customers• Sale of some non-financial assets that are not an output

of the entity’s ordinary activities (e.g., property, plant and equipment, investment property, intangible assets)

What is in not in scope?• Leasing contracts• Insurance contracts• Financial instruments contracts and certain other contracts• Certain non-monetary exchanges• Certain put options on sale and repurchase agreements

*The IASB received various public requests to defer the effective date by one year to annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2018. An exposure draft is expected in May 2015.

The impact of the adoption of IFRS 15The following diagram illustrates the potential impact of the adoption of IFRS 15 on specific industries:

Leve

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Effort to comply

Low High

High

Banking

Insurance

Retail and consumer products

Oil and Gas

Construction & engineering

Entities most likely to be affected by the changesTelecommunications entities selling post-paid contracts to customers.

Construction and engineering entities that enter into contracts that provide for performance obligations, allow for contract modifications or contain significant financing components.

Mining & metals entities that enter into fixed or provisionally priced commodity sales contracts or take-or-pay or other long term arrangements. Other significant issues for the industry will include consideration of whether a contract is within the scope of the new standard and determining when control transfers.

Oil & gas entities that enter into commodities contracts, multi-period contracts, or enter into production sharing, joint venture and similar arrangements.

Retail & consumer entities providing rights of return to customers, selling products through distributors or resellers, providing customer options for goods or services and licenses and franchising arrangements.

Insurance entities who have third party administrator arrangements and managed care arrangements. It also includes insurance brokers. Estimation of variable consideration will be affected.

Banking entities that provide credit card arrangements and enters into sale agreements with regards to real estate owned. Banking issues may arise from interchange fee revenue, rewards programs, annual fees and asset management fees.

Telcos

Mining & Metals

The key principles of IFRS 15ScopeIFRS 15 establishes a five-step model that will apply to revenue earned from a contract with a customer (with limited exceptions), regardless of the type of revenue transaction or the industry. The standard’s requirements will also apply to the recognition and measurement of gains and losses on the sale of some non-financial assets that are not an output of the entity’s ordinary activities (e.g., sales of property, plant and equipment or intangibles).Extensive disclosures will be required, including disaggregation of total revenue; information about performance obligations; changes in contract asset and liability account balances between periods and key judgements and estimates. Disclosures will be required on both an annual and interim basis.

The five-step model

1.Identify the contract(s) with the customer

3.Determine the transaction price

2.Identify the separate performance obligations in the contract(s)

4.Allocate the transaction price to performance obligations

5. Recognise revenue when (or as) the entity satisfies performance obligations

Contracts may be written, verbal or implied by customary business practices, but must be enforceable and have commercial substance.

The model applies to each contract with a customer, once it is probable the entity will collect the consideration to which it will be entitled. In evaluating whether collection is probable, the entity would consider only the customer’s ability and intention to pay the consideration when due.

An entity should combine two or more contracts that are entered into at or near the same time with the same customers, and account for them as a single contract, if they meet the specified criteria.

The standard provides detailed requirements for contract modifications. Depending on the specific facts and circumstances, a modification may be accounted for as a separate contract or a modification of the original contract.

Once the contract has been identified, an entity will need to evaluate the terms and customary business practices to identify which promised goods or services, or a bundle of promised goods or services, would be accounted for as separate performance obligations.

The key determinant for identifying a separate performance obligation is whether a good or service, or a bundle of goods or services, is distinct. A good or service is distinct if the customer can benefit from the good or service on its own or together with other readily available resources and the good or service is separately identifiable from other promises in the contract.

Entities are also required to consider whether the promised good or service is separable from other promises in the contract. Each distinct good or service will be a separate performance obligation.

An entity may provide a series of distinct goods or services that are substantially the same and have the same pattern of transfer to the customer. Examples could include services provided on an hourly or daily basis. Provided specified criteria are met, such a series could be a single performance obligation.

Step 1: Identify the contract(s) with a customer

Step 2: Identify the separate performance obligations in the contract(s)

Step 3: Determine the transaction price

Estimate of any variable consideration*

Fair value of any non-cash consideration

Any consideration payable to a customer such as vouchers and coupons

Effect of time value of money if there is a financing component

significant to the contractTransaction price

The transaction price is generally not adjusted for credit risk. However, it may be constrained because of variable consideration. That is, an entity can include variable consideration in the transaction price only to the extent it is highly probable that a subsequent change in estimated variable consideration will not result in a significant revenue reversal.

For sales and usage-based royalties from the licence of intellectual property, the standard specifies that an entity does not include such consideration in the transaction price before the subsequent sale or usage occurs.

With regards to significant financing components, the entity is providing financing to the customer if the customer is allowed to pay in arrears. Conversely, when the customer pays in advance, the entity is receiving financing from the customer. An entity is however not required to assess whether an arrangement contains a significant financing component unless the period between the customer’s payment and the entity’s transfer of goods or services is greater than one year.

*Variable consideration should be estimated using either a probability-weighted expected value or the most likely amount, whichever better predicts the amount of consideration to which the entity will be entitled.

How we see itIn most instances, an entity will be able to make estimates of stand-alone selling prices that represent management’s best estimate considering observable inputs. However, it could be more difficult if goods or services are not sold independently by the entity or others.

Current IFRS does not explicitly address the accounting for multiple-element arrangements, which has resulted in diversity in practice. IFRS 15 provides detailed requirements for transactions with multiple elements, but does not eliminate the need to exercise judgement to determine the appropriate performance obligations and allocate the consideration to those performance obligations.

Step 4: Allocate the transaction price to the separate performance obligationsAn entity must allocate the transaction price to each separate performance obligation on a relative stand-alone selling price basis, with limited exceptions.

When determining stand-alone selling prices, an entity must use observable information, if it is available.

If stand-alone selling prices are not directly observable, an entity will need to use estimates based on reasonably available information. Another suitable method of estimating stand-alone selling price may be forecasting expected cost and adding an appropriate margin for the good or service.

Examples of reasonably available information include an adjusted market assessment approach or an expected cost plus a margin approach. Only when the stand-alone selling price of a good or service is highly variable or uncertain (as explained in the standard), can a residual approach be used.

The standard permits an entity to allocate a variable amount of consideration, together with any subsequent changes in that variable consideration, to one or more (but not all) performance obligations, if specified criteria are met.

Discounts inherent in a contract can also be allocated to one or more performance obligations if specified criteria are met.

Step 5: Recognise revenue when (or as) the entity satisfies a performance obligationAn entity satisfies a performance obligation by transferring control of a promised good or service to the customer, which could occur over time or at a point in time.

A performance obligation is satisfied at a point in time unless it meets one of the following criteria, in which case, it is satisfied over time: • The customer simultaneously receives and consumes

the benefits provided by the entity’s performance as the entity performs;

• The entity’s performance creates or enhances an asset that the customer controls as the asset is created or enhanced; or

• The entity’s performance does not create an asset with an alternative use to the entity and the entity has an enforceable right to payment for performance completed to date.

Revenue is recognised in line with the pattern of transfer. Revenue that is allocated to performance obligations satisfied at a point in time will be recognised when control of the good or service underlying the performance obligation has transferred.

If the performance obligation is satisfied over time, the revenue allocated to that performance obligation will be recognised over the period the performance obligation is satisfied, using a single method that best depicts the pattern of the transfer of control over time.

Additional application guidance is provided to assist entities when determining whether a licence of intellectual property transfers to a customer over time or at a point in time.

Contract costsThe incremental costs of obtaining a contract (i.e., costs that would not have been incurred if the contract had not been obtained) are recognised as an asset if the entity expects to recover them.

This may mean direct recovery (i.e., through reimbursement under the contract) or indirect recovery (i.e., through the margin inherent in the contract). If costs incurred in fulfilling a contract with a customer are not within the scope of another standard, the entity should recognise the costs to fulfil the contract as an asset if specified criteria are met. These assets are subsequently amortised.

Disclosures

The standard will apply to annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2017*. Early adoption is permitted. All entities will be required to apply the standard retrospectively and will transition following either a full retrospective approach or a modified retrospective approach.

The modified approach will allow the standard to be applied to existing contracts beginning with the current period. No restatement of the comparative periods will be required under this approach, as long as comparative disclosures about the current period’s revenues under existing IFRS are included.

When will the changes take place?

Disclosures

Full retrospective(with optional practical expedients)

Contracts under new standard

Contractsrestated

Contracts not restatedModified retrospective(Cumulative effect at date of application)

IFRS 15 and IAS 8 disclosure apply

Existing and new contracts compared using current IFRS (e.g., IAS 18) in CY

Existing and new contracts under new standard

PY(2016)

CY(2017)

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catc

h-up

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catc

h-up

*The IASB received various public requests to defer the effective date by one year to annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2018. An exposure draft is expected in May 2015.

How are the different industries likely to be effected?

step 1

High

Medium

High

Low

step 3 step 4 step 5step 2

Effort to comply

Medium

Telecommunications

Focus areas• Contract modifications• Accounting for handsets and other separate performance obligations• Significant financing components• Allocation of revenue on a relative standalone selling price basis• Revenue recognition on a portfolio basis• Costs incurred to obtain a contract

Practical issues • Customers frequently modify their contracts and can choose from a wide variety of offerings.

Although most modifications to telecom agreements will be accounted for prospectively as either a new contract or a termination of the old and start of a new contract, telecommunication entities should carefully analyse contract modifications to ensure appropriate accounting.

• All goods or services promised to a customer in a contract are performance obligations, even though entities view handsets as marketing incentives due to the nature of business not being that of a handset retailer. As the handsets are capable of being distinct and are distinct in the context of the contract, it should be accounted for as a separate performance obligation.

• When telecommunication entities offer arrangements in which a good or service is provided up-front, but paid for over time, entities will need to consider if there is a significant financing component in the arrangement, e.g. a subsidised handset in conjunction with a two year service contract.

• The requirement to allocate revenue on a relative stand-alone selling price basis may result in similar goods and services being allocated different amounts of revenue depending on how the particular handset and service plan are bundled into the arrangement.

• The IFRS 15 model is applied to individual contracts with customers. The standard however concedes that this may be impractical and therefore allows contracts to be combined for the purpose of revenue recognition rather than attempt to account for each contract separately. The application of the portfolio approach should however not result in a materially different result from applying the new guidance to the individual contracts, if this is the case the contract must be accounted for on an individual basis.

• The requirement to capitalise expenses that the entity expects to recover represents a significant change for entities that currently expense the costs of obtaining a contract.

Insurance entities & brokers

Focus areas• Insurance brokerage transactions, third party administrator arrangements

and managed care arrangements• Discounts, claw backs, incentives and performance bonuses• Transaction price to reflect adjustments in expected consideration• Contracts with multiple performance obligations

Practical issues• The standard will need to be applied to non-insurance arrangements, including insurance brokerage

transactions, third- party administrator (TPA) arrangements and managed care arrangements.• The consideration received in an insurance brokerage, TPA or managed care contract may

vary in amount and timing as a result of pricing (e.g., per-member, per-claim), discounts, clawbacks, incentives or performance bonuses. Insurance entities and brokers will have to include in the transaction price the estimated portion of contingent amounts (variable consideration) for which they determine that it is probable that a significant reversal will not occur when the uncertainty is resolved.

• The transaction price will also require updates each reporting period to reflect adjustments in expected consideration.

step 1

Low Low Low

MediumMedium

step 3 step 4 step 5step 2

Effort to comply

Construction and engineering entities

Focus areas• Contract modifications• Assessment of engineering and project management services • Principal vs agency arrangements• Variable consideration & variable consideration constrained• Significant financing components• Revenue recognition at a point in time vs over time

Practical issues• Construction and engineering arrangements are frequently changed to modify the scope, price (or

both) of a contract or additional claims are submitted to customers when unexpected additional costs are incurred as a result of delays, errors or changes in scope caused by the customer. (Construction and engineering entities will need to consider whether the modifications should be accounted for as a separate stand-alone contract or as part of an existing contract.)

• Entities that provide engineering or project management services will need to determine if the activities comprise a series of distinct services, i.e., performance obligations that may be different from the unit(s) of account. This could lead to a change in the pattern of revenue recognition and associated profit when adopting IFRS 15. Entities will also need to carefully assess whether a series of distinct goods or services, that are substantially the same, have the same pattern of transfer as this would result in these goods or services being accounted for as a single performance obligation.

• Construction and engineering entities further need to assess whether the performance obligation is to provide the good or service itself (i.e., principal relationship), or to arrange for another party to provide the good or service (i.e., agency relationship) as this would affect the amount of revenue that the entity would be entitled to recognise. Agents recognise the net amount (e.g. a fee or commission) as revenue.

• Construction and engineering arrangements frequently contain variable consideration. When determining whether variable consideration should be constrained, engineering and construction entities will need to consider a variety of factors, including the extent of their experiences with similar arrangements, uncertainties that may exist in latter periods of a long term contract and market and other factors possibly out of the entities’ control.

• Entities need to evaluate payment terms common in construction and engineering contracts (e.g. retainage, milestones, progress payments, award/incentive fees) and the timing of billings to determine whether a significant financing component exists even when there is no explicit purpose of financing between the parties.

step 1

High High

Medium Medium

High

step 3 step 4 step 5step 2

Effort to comply

Construction and engineering entities (continued)• For many construction-type contracts, it is likely that entities will determine that control over

goods or services is transferred over time. Entities should however understand all contract terms related to control and legal ownership of work in progress, as well as whether the asset has no alternative use and the entity has a right to payment for performance completed to date, when determining whether their construction-type contracts meet the criteria to recognise revenue over time. The laws or legal precedent of a jurisdiction may affect an entity’s conclusion of whether a present right to payment is enforceable.

Oil & gas

Focus areas• Production sharing contracts and concession arrangements• Fixed price contracts to sell a commodity over multiple periods• Take-or-pay, minimum capacity or long term supply contracts• Production imbalances• Fixed and provisionally priced arrangements• Services provided by midstream entities• Pipeline transportation and storage arrangements

Practical issues• Production sharing contracts, concession arrangements and similar risk sharing contracts

could be considered collaborative arrangements and hence be outside the scope of IFRS 15. It may be challenging to determine if counterparties are collaborators or customers.

• The entity will need to assess whether fixed-price contracts to sell a commodity over multiple periods has multiple performance obligations. The standalone selling price of each performance obligation should then be determined in order to allocate the transaction price and ultimately establish the pattern of revenue recognition.

• In case of multi-period contracts to sell goods or services with terms calling for price escalations or declines in different periods (such as some take-or-pay, minimum capacity or long term supply contracts), contractual terms should be considered and the reasons for the price changes should be evaluated when identifying the performance obligations and determining how to allocate the transaction price to the performance obligations.

• The amount of oil / gas sold by each owner may differ from its working interest percentage resulting in production imbalances or over/under-lift. Oil and gas entities often adjust for this difference in revenue / cost of sales and as this adjustment is between the entity and its JV partners, it may fall outside the scope of IFRS 15.

• Sales for liquefied natural gas often include provisional pricing at the time of shipment, with final pricing based on the average market price for a particular period. These terms may still represent embedded derivatives to be accounted for separately in terms of IAS 39.

step 1

Low Low

step 3 step 4 step 5step 2

Effort to comply

High

MediumMedium

Banking

Focus areas• Credit card arrangements• Sales of real estate owned• Asset management• Loyalty schemes

Practical issues• The extent to which a bank will be affected depends on its business activities and the terms of

its contracts. Many of a bank’s revenue streams are outside the scope of the new standard, eg. interest received.

• Credit card arrangements can include the charging of credit card and interchange fees, which would be within the scope of the new standard.

• The calculation and timing of profits on real estate sales may be impacted by IFRS 15.• Asset management fees are often variable in nature. This may affect the timing of when these

are recognised by the asset manager.• Customer loyalty schemes’ revenue allocation may be affected when the new standard is adopted.• The timing of revenue recognition for various bank fees associated with administering

customer deposit accounts will most likely not be significantly affected.

step 1

Low

Medium

step 3 step 4 step 5step 2

Effort to comply

Medium

LowLow

Oil & gas (continued)

• Midstream entities will need to evaluate whether the various services they provide, such as gathering and processing and providing other services like compression, are separate performance obligations. Gathering entities may need to evaluate whether promises to construct and transfer well connections to a customer in a gathering agreement are separate performance obligations.

• Pipeline transportation and storage entities will need to consider whether their arrangements fall within the scope of leasing guidance before applying the new revenue standard.

Mining & metals

Focus areas• Contract evaluations to determine if in scope of IFRS 15, leases,

financial instruments or another standard• Production sharing contracts and concession arrangements• Tolling agreements with smelters or refiners• Provisional pricing at the time of shipment• Contracts for the delivery of commodities over multiple periods• Take-or-pay, minimum capacity or long term supply contracts

Practical issues• Significant judgement will need to be exercised to determine whether contracts are within the scope

of IFRS 15 or within the scope of leases, financial instruments, or any other standard.• Consideration will need to be given to whether production sharing contracts, concession agreements

and similar contracts are collaborative arrangements that are excluded from the scope of IFRS 15. Determination of the counterparties as collaborators or customers might also be challenging.

• The guidance of repurchase agreements may impact tolling agreements with smelters or refiners as being sales, financing arrangements or leases.

• Sale transactions involving shipment to a third party refinery, for processing before delivery to the customers, need to be carefully assessed to determine the date that control transfers to the customer.

• Provisional pricing at the time of shipment may impact the estimation of the transaction price. Entities will still need to evaluate if these terms represent embedded derivatives.

• The stand-alone selling price, used in allocating the transaction price to performance obligations, for contracts that include delivery of commodities over multiple periods will be difficult to determine as uncertainty exist if it should be the stand-alone selling price using the forward price curve or another amount, such as the spot price.

• Entities that enter into multi-period contacts with terms calling for price escalations or declines in different periods (e.g., some take- or-pay contracts, minimum capacity contracts or long-term supply contracts) will need to properly identify the performance obligations and evaluate the reasons for the price changes. An entity’s conclusions will determine whether it will allocate and recognise revenue based on stand-alone selling prices, follow contractual pricing or use a straight-line or other pattern.

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High High

Low

Medium Medium

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Effort to comply

Retail & consumer products

Focus areas• Rights of return• Options to acquire additional goods or services• Discounts, coupons, free products / services to customers and slotting fees• Consignment arrangements• Brand licensing or franchising arrangements• Products sold with warranties either explicitly stated or implied

Practical issues• A right of return creates variable consideration. IFRS 15 requires an entity to estimate variable

consideration and include in the transaction price amounts for which it is probable that a significant revenue reversal will not occur. Expected returns should be recognised as a refund liability, representing its obligation to return the customer’s consideration. A return asset (and adjusted cost of sales) should be recognised for its right to recover the goods returned by the customer.

• An option to acquire additional goods or services is a performance obligation, if it provides a material right to the customer that the customer would not receive without entering into the contract.

• In addition to providing discounts, coupons and free products / services to customers, wholesale entities also provide such discounts to the customers of retailers. If the payment does not relate to a distinct good or service, it should be treated as a reduction of the transaction price. Similar principles are also applied to slotting fees to retailers.

• A change in practice may occur for products sold through distributors or resellers. Retail entities will need to evaluate when the control of the product transfers to the customer. Contracts with resellers, that are consignment arrangements, is likely to not transfer control.

• Entities will have to consider whether contracts with regards to brand licensing or franchising arrangements include distinct licenses of intellectual property (IP). Judgement needs to be exercised when analysing whether a license of IP is a right to access the IP or a right to use it. If considered a right to access, revenue will be recognised over the license period and if it is considered a right to use, revenue will be recognised at the time the license is provided.

• Entities often sell products with warranties either explicitly stated or implied by way of business practice. Assurance type warranties promise that the delivered product is as specified in the contract and the estimated cost of satisfying the warranty is accrued in accordance with the requirements of IAS 37. Service type warranties provide customers a service beyond fixing existing defects in the product and represents a separate performance obligation.

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Low Low

High

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MediumMedium

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Effort to comply

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IFRS 15 will affect the recognition, measurement, and disclosure of revenue for many entities. Revenue is an important financial performance indicator for entities. Gaining an understanding of the effect of the standard, providing early communication to stakeholders and planning ahead are crucial for a successful implementation.

Even entities that do not expect significant changes in the measurement of revenue and timing of recognition will need to validate that assumption.

Furthermore, they will also need to identify any necessary changes to policies, procedures, internal controls and systems to ensure that revenue transactions are appropriately evaluated in light of the standard. In addition, entities will need to plan for the significantly expanded disclosure requirements.

But this is not just an accounting change; as a result of the potential wide-ranging impact of IFRS 15, the implementation process should be comprehensive and include several functions outside of the traditional finance function, including IT, tax, legal, sales, marketing, human resources, investor relations and the executive management.

Control environment

Taxplanning

Sector issues

Project management

Investor relations

Employeebenefits

Management information

Processes and systems

Business operations

Training and communication

Revenuerecognition

impacts

How will your business be affected?

Management judgement While performing the activities in the assessment phase, an entity should identify the key judgements and estimates that it will be required to make under IFRS 15.

These management judgements and estimates will be an important part of implementing the standard. The new model’s use of broad principles will require many estimates and the use of judgement, similar to current IFRS.

The following aspects of the standard are examples of areas requiring significant judgement:• Identifying the contract

• Collectability• Combining contracts• Contract modifications

• Identifying performance obligations• Determining distinct goods and services

• Determining the transaction price• Estimating variable consideration, including application

of the constraint• Determining the significant financing component

• Allocating the selling price• Estimating stand-alone selling prices

• Determining whether performance obligations are satisfied over time or at a point in time• Determining whether licences represent a right to use

intellectual property or access intellectual property over timeAn entity should design and implement processes to make these judgements to ensure consistency across the organisation, as well as related controls.

Will the entity apply a full retrospective or modified retrospective transition method?The standard allows two different transition methods. Before determining which option is right for an entity, management should identify the significant effects on the entity’s revenue streams, evaluate peers’ expected adoption methods and consider stakeholder perspectives:• What method are peers and others within the sector applying?• What are analysts’ views on transition methods for the

sector and business model?• Will the entity have a significant amount of ’lost’ revenue as a

result of the transition from current accounting policies to the standard (e.g., amounts of revenue that were deferred as at the adoption date of the standard and will, ultimately, be reflected in the restated prior periods or as part of the cumulative adjustment upon adoption, but are never reported as revenue in a current period within the financial statements)?

• If the entity applies the full retrospective method:• Does the entity have the ability to determine the

transition adjustment as at the beginning of the earliest period presented and begin tracking financial information to be able to report information for the earliest period presented?

• Does the entity understand the effect on tax filings and subsidiary statutory financial statements?

• If the entity applies the modified retrospective method:• Does the entity have the ability to maintain financial

records under the new standard and current IFRS in order to provide the required disclosures in the year of transition?

Would there be significant differences in the financial information presented on the face of the financial statements under the new standard and the amount presented in the footnotes under current IFRS in the year of transition?

This section addresses factors for entities to consider as they begin to implement IFRS 15.

Which significant performance metrics will be affected?Affected metrics will likely include gross margin, net income, EBITDA, and earnings per share. Once an entity understands the effect on the significant revenue streams, it should examine these metrics to determine whether any changes are needed, including, but not limited to, changes to any compensation programmes tied to revenue (e.g., sales commissions, bonus programs), debt covenants and financial planning and analysis targets.• Which performance metrics are tied to revenue?• Is the entity considering changing compensation packages

or other areas of the business that are tied to revenue?• Will changes in revenue affect any contractual covenants of

the business?

Has the entity determined what changes are required to accounting systems and processes?An entity will need to consider whether its IT systems, data models and related enterprise resource planning (ERP) and legacy system applications are able to capture, track, compile and report information in accordance with the needs of the standard.

For example, judgements and estimates involving variable consideration and significant financing components, determining stand-alone selling prices, allocating the transaction price to the performance obligations and measuring progress for performance obligations satisfied over time are just a few of the potential changes that could require new automated solutions.

In addition, an entity’s systems will have to have the ability to capture or aggregate information to support the expanded quantitative and qualitative disclosure requirements, including:• Disaggregated revenue information• The transaction price allocated to remaining

performance obligations• Measurement of revenue using input methods for

performance obligations satisfied over time

When performing this analysis, an entity may determine that it will need to gather more financial data and customer contract details than it currently collects. This may be challenging for an entity with decentralised operations that will need to accumulate information from multiple locations.

Are there plans to change the way the entity does business?Some entities may have disciplined pricing practices in place to allocate consideration to elements in a multiple-element arrangement. However, even in such situations, an entity will need to evaluate whether its pricing practices will change, as well as its methods for estimating stand-alone selling prices.• Will IFRS 15 result in any changes to business practices

(e.g., changes in contract terms or pricing policies that could affect estimates of stand-alone selling prices)?

• Are there changes in contract terms that would affect revenue recognition under the new standard (e.g., amending termination provisions to obtain appropriate payment for performance to date)?

• Will planned changes have any effect on how an entity’s sales force does business?

How will IFRS 15 affect the entity’s accounting policies?Since many concepts in the new standard differ significantly from current IFRS, an entity will need to identify the necessary updates to existing policies in order to conform with IFRS 15.

In addition, with the level of judgements and estimates required by the standard, entities will likely need to establish clear policies to implement the new revenue accounting consistently across its operations.

In addition, policies beyond those related to revenue may also be affected (e.g., policies related to other gains and losses, commissions, costs of fulfilling contracts).

What changes to internal controls are required? In addition to data capture, data accumulation and IT changes, internal reporting processes and controls also will most likely require revision.• Will the entity be able to leverage existing processes and

internal controls related to revenue with minor changes or will it use this opportunity to optimise the control environment related to revenue?

• What additional processes and controls will be necessary for the transition period whether the additional controls are associated with the restatement of 2016 (and, in some cases, 2015) or the required dual book-keeping for 2017 when using the modified retrospective approach?

What impact will the revenue recognition standard have on tax?Changes in accounting for revenue for financial reporting purposes may lead to differences for tax purposes. In some cases, these differences may lead to additional temporary differences due to changes in the timing of revenue for financial reporting purposes.• Will the standard lead to significant changes in temporary

differences related to revenue?• Will the entity need to change tax accounting methods in

light of the new financial accounting requirements?• How will the standard affect transfer pricing?

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ContactsIFRS Specialists

James LukeDirector, Africa IFRS Leader

Tel: +27 11 772 3767Email: james.luke@za.ey.com

Larissa ClarkDirector, Assurance Professional

Practice Group Tel: +27 11 772 3094

Email: larissa.clark@za.ey.com

Dennis EsterhuizenAssociate Director, Assurance

Professional Practice Group Tel: +27 11 772 0079

Email: dennis.esterhuizen@za.ey.com

Sonica SchoemanSenior Manager, Assurance Professional Practice Group

Tel: +27 11 772 3392Email: sonica.schoeman@za.ey.com

Advisory ServicesKhaya Dludla

Director, Financial Accounting Advisory Services

Tel: +27 11 772 3562Email: khaya.dludla@za.ey.com

Nelly ShiluvanaAssociate Director, Financial

Accounting Advisory Services Tel: +27 11 772 3353

Email: nelly.shiluvana@za.ey.com