Improvements to International Public Sector Accounting Standards

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) issued the Exposure Draft Improvements to IPSAS 2023, which proposes to incorporate recent improvements to IFRS Accounting Standards into IPSAS. Proposed improvements cover the classification of liabilities as current or non-current, and narrow-scope amendments to the IPSASB leases standard.

Your feedback is important

We encourage you to read the Exposure Draft and to share your comments with us.

In New Zealand, PBE Standards for Tier 1 and Tier 2 PBEs are largely based on IPSAS. As well as informing our feedback to the IPSASB, your comments will also help us ensure that PBE Standards contribute to appropriate reporting outcomes for public sector and not-for-profit entities in Aotearoa New Zealand. Once the IPSASB finalise the amendments proposed in the Exposure Draft, we will consult with you again before making amendments to PBE Standards.

The proposals

The Exposure Draft proposes the following amendments to IPSAS, based on recent improvements to IFRS Accounting Standards:

• Clarification of the requirements on the classification of liabilities as current or non-current: Proposed amendments IPSAS 1 Presentation of Financial Statements, based on the for-profit amendments Classification of Liabilities as Current or Non-current and Non-current Liabilities with Covenants.
• Amendments to IPSAS 43 Leases: To provide practical expedients in relation to lease modifications that are caused by the global interest rate benchmark reforms (based on the for-profit amendments Interest Rate Benchmark Reforms – Phase 2), and to add requirements on how a seller-lessees accounts for a sale and leaseback after the transaction date (based on the for-profit amendments Lease Liability in a Sale and Leaseback).
  
  Please note: In New Zealand, currently there is no PBE Standard based on IPSAS 43 Leases. A PBE Standard for the public sector based on IPSAS 43 is under development.   

Accessing the Exposure Draft

Commenting on the Exposure Draft

Please send your comments—both formal and informal—by 24 November 2023, using the secure upload form below.

Comments can also be made directly to the IPSASB (by 18 December 2023), using this link https://www.ipsasb.org/publications/exposure-draft-ed-85-improvements-ipsas-2023. When submitting directly, we encourage you to send a copy of your submission to us using the upload form below.

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We intend on publishing all comments on the XRB website, unless they may be defamatory. If you have any objection to this, we will not publish them. However, they will remain subject to the Official Information Act 1982 and, therefore, may be released in part or in full. The Privacy Act 2020 also applies.