Insurance Financial Statements

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to describe the evolution of accounting rules and financial statements for insurance companies, focusing on the evolution of the IFRS discipline. Current provisions and their prospective evolutions are particularly relevant for all financial institutions providing insurance contracts. The chapter is organized as follows:

• section 5.2 begins with a general introductory framework for insurance accounting: section 5.2.1 reviews the main provisions of the accounting directive for insurance companies and section 5.2.2 analyzes the rules introduced by the IFRS 4 on insurance contracts;

• section 5.3 examines the main evolution of the IFRS discipline on insurance accounting: section 5.3.1 summarizes the basic ideas contained in the 2007 Discussion Paper, while section 5.3.2 describes the structure of the 2010 Exposure Draft;

• section 5.4 provides some first comments on the most relevant aspects of the Exposure Draft: the measurement model (section 5.4.1), the acquisition costs of insurance contracts (section 5.4.2) and the proposal for a new income statement for insurance companies (5.4.3);

• section 5.5 presents some final remarks.