Abstract:
International Accounting Standard IAS 36, Impairment of Assets, is
the first accounting standard that deals comprehensively with the impact of a
decline in value in assets1. IAS 36 became operative for annual financial
statements covering periods beginning on or after 1 July 19992.
Prior to the publication of IAS 36, standards such as IAS 16,
Property, Plant and Equipment, IAS 28, Accounting for Investments in
Associates, and IAS 31, Financial Reporting of Interests in Joint Ventures,
included principles for recognizing impairment losses but no detailed
guidance was given on how these losses should be measured.
Financial statements exhibit reliability when amounts are stated in a
prudent manner3. The objective of IAS 36 is to prescribe the procedures
applied by an enterprise to ensure that each asset is not overstated beyond
the amount expected to be recovered through use or sale of the asset.
Impairment is assessed as at each balance sheet date on the basis of
the best set of information available to the enterprise and, subject to the
application of materiality, the accounting standard will apply even if
management consider that any impairment loss existing as at balance sheet
date is likely to reverse subsequently.
The objective of this Standard is to prescribe the procedures that an
entity applies to ensure that its assets are carried at no more than their
recoverable amount. An asset is carried at more than its recoverable amount
if its carrying amount exceeds the amount to be recovered through use or
sale of the asset. If this is the case, the asset is described as impaired and the
Standard requires the entity to recognise an impairment loss. The Standard
also specifies when an entity should reverse an impairment loss and
prescribes disclosures. IAS 36 requires each asset to be assessed for an
indicator of impairment. When there is an indication that an asset may be
impaired, RA is estimated for each asset6. In many cases however, it may not
be possible to estimate RA of a stand-alone asset, for example when the asset
does not generate cash inflows from continuing use that are largely
independent of those from other assets. In such a case, RA is estimated in
respect of the cash-generating unit to which the asset belongs.A cash
generating unit (CGU) is the smallest identifiable group of assets that
generates cash inflows from continuing use that are largely independent of
the cash inflows from other assets or groups of assetsThe standard provides
the following examples of a cash-generating unit:A mining enterprise owns a
private railway to support its mining activities. The private railway could be
sold only for scrap value and the private railway does not generate cash
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inflows from continuing use that are largely independent of the cash inflows
from the other assets of the mine.
