Impact of IFRS 9 on Financial Assets and Liabilities of QBE Insurance

The report discusses the impact of IFRS 9 on the financial assets and liabilities of QBE Insurance. It covers the recognition and measurement of financial assets and liabilities, impact on assets, liabilities, financial performance, and debt equity ratio.

Running head: FINANCE
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Executive Summary:
The significance of IFRS 9 has increased with its subsequent introduction in the
financial market. It has successfully replaced the IAS 39. With the new changes being made
in the recognition and measurement of the financial assets and liabilities, the importance of
IFRS 9 has increased in the modern day financial scenario. Through this report, the focus has
been thrown on the new standards and provisions of the IFRS 9. The impact of the new
provisions on the financial instruments, assets, liabilities and the financial performance has
been discussed. This report has been prepared by taking the context of the largest Australian
Insurance company, the QBE.

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Table of Contents
Part A:........................................................................................................................................3
Recognition and measurement of some of the financial assets and liabilities of QBE:.........6
Assets:................................................................................................................................6
Liabilities:..........................................................................................................................7
Part B:.........................................................................................................................................8
Impact on Assets:...................................................................................................................8
Impact on liabilities:...............................................................................................................8
Impact on financial performance:..........................................................................................9
Impact on the debt equity ratio:...........................................................................................10
References:...............................................................................................................................11

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Part A:
1. IFRS 9 is a land mark regulation in the field of financial instruments, which was
brought into effect from 1st January, 2018 after years of careful planning, execution
and hard work. IFRS9 Financial Instruments aims to bring about a fundamental
change in the accounting of financial instruments as it aims to replace the provisions
of IAS 39(Ramirez, 2015). With respect to the new rules and regulations of the new
standards, quiet a number of decisions are required to be taken with respect to the
transition into the new standards of accounting. In this transition, banking sector
would be the most affected sector. There are three primary aspects of this new
accounting standard, which are recognition, classification and measurement of
financial assets, application of expected credit loss model to the different financial
assets and hedge accounting. AASB 9 has successfully imbibed all the relevant
provisions of the IFRS 9 (Nobes, 2013). Whether it is concerned with recognition or
measurement of the different financial assets or liabilities or the hedging related
issues.
Recognition of financial assets: For the initial recognition of the different financial assets of
the company, IFRS 9 states that financial assets must be recognised in the in the statement of
financial position or the balance sheet of the company, when and only when, the concerned
business entity becomes a party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.
Recognition of financial liabilities: According to the different provisions of the IFRS 9,
financial liabilities must be recognised in the statement of the financial position or the
balance sheet of the company, when and only when, the concerned business entity becomes a
party to the contractual provisions of the instrument (Pwc.com, 2018).

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Recognition of equities: AS per the provisions of the IFRS 9, it has been seen and identified,
that at the time of initial recognition of the equity instruments, a business entity might make
an unchangeable election to present in the other comprehensive income statement all the
relevant and subsequent changes in the fair value or the market value of the equity
instruments, while remaining within the purview of the standards of the AASB 9, which shall
neither be held for trading nor for the purpose of contingent consideration as recognised and
identified by any acquirer in a business combination to which AASB 3 is applicable.
2. For the purpose of measurement of all the financial instruments as per the different
provisions of the IFRS 9, it is required that all the different financial instruments need
are required to be initially measured at their fair value or minus, especially in the case
of financial asset or liability not being present in their fair value because of the
presence of any kind of profit or loss or any other kind of transaction costs (Pwc.com,
2018). The subsequent measurement procedures as per the different provisions of the
IFRS 9, for the different kinds of financial assets and financial liabilities have been
provided below:
 As per IFRS 9 provisions, the measurement of all the financial assets have been
divided into two classifications: those which are to be measured at their amortised
cost and those which are to be measured at their fair value. When the assets are to be
measured at their fair value, the profits and the losses are either identified completely
in profit or loss (fair value through the process of ‘fair value through profit or loss’) or
recognised or identified in the section of the other comprehensive income (through
‘fair value through comprehensive income’). In the case of the debt instruments, the
business model test and the cash flow characteristics test are used for the
measurement purpose. All the other debt instruments are to measured using the fair

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value option and all the equity instruments are to be measured as per the fair value
procedures and are to be presented in the ‘other comprehensive income’
 In accordance with the measurement of the financial liabilities of IFRS 9, it has been
said that, basically IFRS 9 has not brought any kind of changes in the basic
accounting model for the financial liabilities under IAS 39. Two specific
measurement categories continue to exist, which are FVTPL and amortised cost. The
financial liabilities which have been held for trading are measured at FVTPL and all
other financial liabilities are measured at amortisation cost, unless and until the fair
value option has been applied. In addition to this, there is also an option to assign a
financial liability as measured at fair value through profit and loss.
3. QBE Insurance is an insurance based company. It is Australia’s global insurer. It
mainly deals in providing insurance services to Australia, America, Asia Pacific as
well as Europe. Being an insurance based company, it is required to deal with
financial assets and liabilities on a day to day basis. Some of the prominent financial
assets of the company include, cash and cash equivalents, Investments, derivative
financial instruments, trade and other receivables, current asset taxes, deferred
insurance costs and many others. In the liabilities section, there are many prominent
liabilities of the insurance companies. Some of the financial liabilities of the company
are trade and other payables, current tax liabilities, provisions, borrowings, equity
share capital. The prominent financial assets and liabilities of QBE are as follows:

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(Source: Balance Sheet of QBE for 2017)
Recognition and measurement of some of the financial assets and liabilities of
QBE:
Assets:
 Trade receivables: Many times, in the normal course of business, a company sells
goods and services on the basis of credit, expecting the debtor to pay the amount of
credit sometime in the future. The insurance companies has $4906 amount of trade
receivables for the year 2017, which was $4831 in the year 2016. AS per the
provisions of IFRS 9, in case of initial recognition of trade receivables, they must be
recognised at their transaction price, if they do not contain a significant financing

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component. In the case of IFRS 9, it must be said that the company must ensure that
the financial assets must be measured at its fair value, unless it is measured at
amortised cost (Onali and Ginesti., 2014). As most companies in the case of the trade
receivables take into account the repayment of the principle amount and the payment
of interest as well as other interests which might be levied on the outstanding amounts
(Pwc.com, 2018).Thus it can be said that the measurement of the trade receivables of
QBE are measured through at its amortised cost.
Liabilities:
 Borrowings: They refer to the different kinds of loans and kinds of financial
assistance which are received by the company or the business entity for various kinds
of reasons such as expansions purposes, reinvestment purposes, for introducing new
products and services or for the purpose of opening new branches or any other
purposes. In the case of the insurance company QBE, there is no exception for the
purpose of taking different kinds of borrowings. Borrowings mainly consists of
different kinds of bank loans, senior as well as subordinated debt. As per the
provisions of IFRS 9, the recognition of the financial liabilities of the company
including the case of borrowings must be done taking into account the different
provisions of the IFRS 9. Here in this case, the borrowings as well as the other
liabilities of the companies must be initially realised and recognised, when the
business entity or the concerned comes in contact with the different contractual
provisions of the concerned financial liability instrument (Gebhardt, Mora and
Wagenhofer., 2014).In the case of the measurement of the financial liabilities be it
borrowings or any other kind of financial liabilities of the entities, the measurement
must be done at their fair value.As per the new standard, the borrowings of any

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company, be it an insurance company or any other one, it are required to be measured
at the amortised cost.
Part B:
Impact on Assets:
According to the report published by Price Water Coopers, a significant amount of
impact would be seen in the context of the assets of the company. It is not irrelevant in the
case of the insurance company QBE. From the investor’s perspective, there would be variety
of changes on the assets of the company and its financial statements. Due to the measurement
of all the financial assets of the company being done in their face value, the transparency if
the financial statements to the investors would be improved. The new standards and
provisions of the IFFRS 9 has led to the decrease in the complexity, inconsistency and
mismanagement of the resources, which had been invested by the investors. If the case of the
insurance company of QBE is taken, it could be seen that the all the balances of the cash and
cash equivalents, investments, trade receivables, insurance costs of deferred nature,
investment properties and various other assets would be done at their fair value as per the
measurement provisions of the IFRS 9 (Pwc.com, 2018). For example as mentioned above,
trade receivables, the investors would be able to assess the amount of credit facilities and the
amount of credit sales of the company. This would bring in improved level of transparency
in the company. This would help the investors in taking a fair amount of decisions while
making any kind of investment in the company.
Impact on liabilities:
Liabilities is one of the most important aspects of the financial statements of any
company and insurance companies like QBE is no exception to this. The impact of IFRS 9 on

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the liabilities of any company has been very significant. In accordance with all the provisions
of the IFRS 9, all the equity instruments and the other liabilities of the company must be
measured at their fair values in the statement of financial position of the company and all the
changes in the value of the liabilities must be duly recognised and identified in the profit and
loss. This would be done for all the equities except for those which have been decided by the
company or the business entity to be shown in the ‘other comprehensive income’. It helps in
measuring the recognised liabilities using the methods of ‘fair value through profit and loss’
approach and the amortised cost approach. This is of immense importance to the investors
(Cairns., 2012). A true and fair representation of the liabilities of the company helps in
assessing the true worth and the aggregate credit worthiness of the company. It brings in
accurate valuation of the liabilities of the company. In addition to this, it helps the investors
in understanding the dividend payment pattern and the rate of dividend payment for the
company. It is of utmost importance to the investors, to know the amount of returns expected
from the company.
In the example taken above, the borrowings are also an important financial instrument upon
which the investors depend a lot for the purpose of estimating the credit paying capacity of
the company. The investors want to invest in those companies which has a steady cash
earning capacity and which regularly pays all its dues and borrowings.
Impact on financial performance:
The introduction of IFRS 9 will bring about a huge impact on the financial
performance of various business entities. IFRS 9 would lead to a general shift from a
prescriptive to a more principle-based approach. It would lead to the changes in the way
financial assets are classified, recognised and measured based on their nature and how they
are managed, changes to the impairment model based on expected rather than incurred credit
losses, and a move to hedge accounting guidelines that are flexible in nature. Adopting the

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new expected credit loss (ECL) model would need companies to consider multiple,
probability weighted scenarios and various macroeconomic factors in order to apply a
forward looking approach. Credit losses will now be recognized initially, from the point a
loan is issued, and will be based on the expectation of losses over the life of the instrument.
The necessity for augmented judgment and exposé is an opportunity for the CFOs to explain
their interpretation and strategy because it creates a necessity for more perspicacity and
justification of assumptions. These changes create an occasion for the treasurers and CFOs to
open a dialogue with the investors about how risk is managed in a company (Bloomberg
Professional Services, 2018). In this way IFRS 9 would help in bridging the gap between
accounting and risk management. Along with this, it would also help in improving the overall
performance of the company.
Impact on the debt equity ratio:
The Debt-to-Equity ratio (D/E) helps in ascertaining the proportion of the company’s
assets which are being financed through debt. It is a long term solvency ratio which indicates
the reliability of the long-term financial policies of the company. The Debt to equity ratio of
QBE is (Total liabilities/Shareholders’ Fund), which is (34,961/8859=3.49). This suggests
that the company is overly dependent on the debt instruments for the purpose of raising its
capital. As per the provisions of IFRS 9, it can be said that, the classification of a financial
instrument as either a liability (debt) or equity can have a momentous impact on an entity's
gearing (debt-to-equity ratio) and reported earnings. It can also affect the entity's debt
covenants.

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References:
Bernhardt, T., Erlinger, D. and Unterrainer, L., 2014. IFRS 9: The New Rules For Hedge
Accounting from the Risk Management’s Perspective. ACRN Journal of Finance and Risk
Perspectives, 3(3), pp.53-66.
Bloomberg Professional Services. (2018). IFRS 9 bridges the gap between accounting and
risk management | Bloomberg Professional Services. [online] Available at:
https://www.bloomberg.com/professional/blog/ifrs-9-bridges-gap-accounting-risk-
management/ [Accessed 31 May 2018].
Brochet, F., Jagolinzer, A.D. and Riedl, E.J., 2013. Mandatory IFRS adoption and financial
statement comparability. Contemporary Accounting Research, 30(4), pp.1373-1400.
Cairns, D., 2012. The use of fair value in IFRS. In The Routledge Companion to Fair Value
and Financial Reporting(pp. 25-39). Routledge.
Gebhardt, G., Mora, A. and Wagenhofer, A., 2014. Revisiting the fundamental concepts of
IFRS. Abacus, 50(1), pp.107-116.
Huian, M., 2013. ANALYSIS OF THE CONSTITUENTS’PARTICIPATION IN THE
DEVELOPMENT OF THE 1ST PHASE OF IFRS 9 FINANCIAL
INSTRUMENTS. Annals-Economy Series, 1, pp.209-216.
Huian, M., 2013. Stakeholder’s participation in the development of the new accounting rules
regarding the impairment of financial assets. Business Management Dynamics, 2(9), pp.23-
35.
Iasplus.com. (2018). IFRS 9 — Financial Instruments. [online] Available at:
https://www.iasplus.com/en/standards/ifrs/ifrs9 [Accessed 31 May 2018].

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Inform.pwc.com. (2018). PwC's Inform | US. [online] Available at: https://inform.pwc.com/?
action=informContent&id=0948073503177847 [Accessed 31 May 2018].
Nobes, C., 2013. The continued survival of international differences under IFRS. Accounting
and Business Research, 43(2), pp.83-111.
Onali, E. and Ginesti, G., 2014. Pre-adoption market reaction to IFRS 9: A cross-country
event-study. Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, 33(6), pp.628-637.
Pwc.com. (2018). [online] Available at:
https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/audit-services/ifrs/publications/ifrs-9/ifrs-9-understanding-the-
basics.pdf [Accessed 31 May 2018].
Ramirez, J., 2015. Accounting for derivatives: Advanced hedging under IFRS 9. John Wiley
& Sons.