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IFRS · Standards • Published: 22 January 2026 • Author: ValidWave Editorial

Each year the IASB issues targeted amendments; what matters is knowing which ones actually take effect for the year you are closing. Three pronouncements first apply to annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2026: Amendments to the Classification and Measurement of Financial Instruments (Amendments to IFRS 9 and IFRS 7, issued May 2024), Annual Improvements to IFRS Accounting Standards—Volume 11 (issued July 2024), and Contracts referencing Nature-dependent Electricity (Amendments to IFRS 9 and IFRS 7, issued December 2024). Early application was possible for all three. The IAS 21 lack-of-exchangeability amendment and the supplier finance disclosures that readers may still be treating as forthcoming were already in force before 2026, and are covered below on that basis.

IAS 21 Lack of Exchangeability: In Force Since 2025, Not 2026

The IAS 21 lack-of-exchangeability amendment is not a 2026 change: it was issued in August 2023 and applies to annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2025. It addresses how entities account for transactions and balances when a currency cannot be exchanged into another — a situation directly relevant to operations in DRC, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, and other markets with de facto exchange controls. IAS 21 still matters a great deal for those entities, but as a requirement already in force, not a new one.

Under the amendment, if a currency is not exchangeable, the entity must estimate the spot exchange rate and disclose the restriction and its financial impact. For a calendar-year entity, these requirements first applied in the FY2025 financial statements.

IFRS 10 / IAS 28: Sale or Contribution of Assets — Still Deferred, and Proposed for Withdrawal

The long-standing conflict between IFRS 10 Consolidated Financial Statements and IAS 28 has not been resolved. Sale or Contribution of Assets between an Investor and its Associate or Joint Venture (Amendments to IFRS 10 and IAS 28) was issued in September 2014, but in December 2015 its mandatory effective date was indefinitely deferred by Effective Date of Amendments to IFRS 10 and IAS 28, and the IASB has still not set a new one. The only change to IFRS 10 that actually takes effect for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2026 is the narrow clarification of the determination of a ‘de facto agent’ made by Annual Improvements to IFRS Accounting Standards—Volume 11.

What finance teams should actually be tracking is the revised IAS 28. At its September 2026 meeting the IASB decided to issue the revised standard without re-exposure and to begin balloting, with one Board member indicating an intention to dissent, and tentatively decided that an investor would apply the revised IAS 28 for annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2029, with early application permitted, on the premise that it is issued in the first half of 2027. During its redeliberations the IASB also tentatively decided to confirm its proposal to withdraw the 2014 amendments and to introduce an accounting policy choice between full and restricted recognition of gains or losses on transactions with associates, except for gains or losses on transfers of businesses, which would be recognised in full. Until the revised standard applies, restructuring transactions, group reorganisations, and partial divestments — common in African holding structures and OHADA corporate groups — continue to be accounted for under IAS 28 as it currently stands.

IAS 7 / IFRS 7: Supplier Finance Disclosures

Amendments to IAS 7 Statement of Cash Flows and IFRS 7 Financial Instruments Disclosures require entities to disclose information about supplier finance arrangements. These arrangements can mask true working capital positions and liquidity risk.

For a calendar-year entity, FY2026 is the third year of application, so the reliefs available in the year of initial application no longer apply: they covered comparative information for prior periods, certain quantitative information as at the date of initial application, and the disclosures in interim periods falling within the year of initial application. Finance teams should review all supplier financing, reverse factoring, and early payment programmes on that basis:

Preparing Your 2026 Annual Accounts

With most of 2026 behind us, the priority is no longer identifying this year's amendments but closing FY2026 correctly and getting ahead of 2027. Paragraph 30 of IAS 8 requires an entity to disclose information relevant to assessing the possible impact that application of a new Accounting Standard will have on its financial statements in the period of initial application, so FY2026 statements must address pronouncements issued but not yet effective. These include IFRS 18 Presentation and Disclosure in Financial Statements, IFRS 19 Subsidiaries without Public Accountability: Disclosures and Translation to a Hyperinflationary Presentation Currency (Amendments to IAS 21, issued November 2025), all effective 1 January 2027. The last of these applies where an entity translates its financial statements, or the results of a foreign operation, from a functional currency that is not hyperinflationary into a presentation currency that is. IFRS 18 is the genuine accounting-policy and ERP project of this cycle, because it replaces IAS 1 and changes the structure of the statement of profit or loss; scoping that work in Q4 2026 rather than during the 2027 year-end is the real test of a well-governed finance function.

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