continue to be measured in accordance with IAS 21.
7.1.2
Dealing with adjustments to the hedged item
In general, adjustments to the hedged asset or liability arising from the application of
hedge accounting as described at 7.1.1 above are dealt with in accordance with the
normal accounting treatment for that item. For example, copper inventory might be the
hedged item in a fair value hedge of the exposure to changes in the copper price. In this
case, the adjusted carrying amount of the copper inventory becomes the cost basis for
the purpose of applying the lower of cost and net realisable value test under IAS 2 –
Inventories (see Chapter 22 at 3). [IAS 39.F.3.6].
Where the hedged item is a financial instrument (or component thereof) for which the
effective interest method of accounting is used, the adjustment should be amortised to
profit or loss. Amortisation may begin as soon as the adjustment exists and should begin
no later than when the hedged item ceases to be adjusted for hedging gains and losses.
4074 Chapter 49
The adjustment should be based on a recalculated effective interest rate at the date
amortisation begins and should be fully amortised by maturity. [IFRS 9.6.5.10]. If the hedged
item is measured at fair value through OCI in accordance with paragraph 4.1.2A of
IFRS 9, it is the cumulative gain or loss previously recognised in OCI that is adjusted,
not the carrying amount. See Chapter 47 at 5.7 for details on how the recalculated
effective interest rate interacts with the IFRS 9 expected credit loss calculation.
When a hedged item in a fair value hedge is a firm commitment (or component thereof)
to acquire an asset or assume a liability, the initial carrying amount of the asset or
liability that results from the entity meeting the firm commitment is adjusted to include
the cumulative change in the fair value of the hedged item that was recognised in the
statement of financial position. [IFRS 9.6.5.9].
Example 49.59: Hedge of a firm commitment to acquire equipment
Company X has the euro as its functional currency. It has chosen to treat all hedges of foreign currency risk
associated with firm commitments as fair value hedges. In January 2019 it contracts with a US supplier (with
the US dollar as its functional currency) to purchase an item of machinery it intends to use in its business. The
machine will be delivered at the start of July 2019 and the contracted price, payable on delivery, is US$1,000.
X has no appetite to take on foreign currency exchange risk in relation to euro/US dollar exchange rates and
so contracts with a bank to purchase US$1,000 at the start of July in exchange for €900 (six month forward
exchange rate is US$1:€0.90). In other words, X has effectively fixed the price it will pay for the machine (in
euro terms) at €900.
If the fair value of the forward contract at the end of March 2019 (X’s year end) is €30 positive to X, on delivery
is €50 positive to X (spot exchange rate is US$1:€0.95) and assuming the hedge is perfectly effective (this might
be the case if the hedged risk is identified as the forward exchange rate – see 7.4.5 below, and it is assumed that
no sources of ineffectiveness such as cross currency basis spreads exist – 7.4.2 below) and meets all the
requirements for hedge accounting, the journal entries to record this hedging relationship would be as follows:
January 2019
No entries are required as the firm commitment is unrecognised, the forward contract is recognised but has a
zero fair value and no cash is paid or received.
March 2019
€
€
Forward contract
30
Profit or loss
30
To recognise the change in fair value of the forward contract in profit or loss.
€
€
Profit or loss
30
Firm commitment
30
To recognise the change in fair value of the (previously) unrecognised firm commitment in respect of changes
in forward exchange rates in profit or loss.
July 2019
€
€
Forward contract
20
Profit or loss
20
To recognise the change in fair value of the forward contract in profit or loss.
Financial instruments: Hedge accounting 4075
€
€
Profit or loss
20
Firm commitment
20
To recognise the change in fair value of the (now recognised) firm commitment in respect of changes in
forward exchange rates in profit or loss.
€
€
Cash 50
Forward contract
50
To record the settlement of the forward contract at its fair value.
€
€
Machine 950
Cash 950
To record the settlement of the firm commitment at the contracted price of US$1,000 at the spot rate of
US$1:€0.95.
€
€
Firm commitment
50
Machine 50
To remove the carrying amount of the firm commitment from the statement of financial position and adjust
the initial carrying amount of the machine that results from the firm commitment.
In summary, the result of these accounting entries is as follows:
€
€
Machine 900
Cash 900
which is somewhat reassuring given the starting presumption, i.e. that X had effectively fixed the purchase
price of its machine at €900.
7.2 Cash
flow
hedges
7.2.1
Ongoing cash flow hedge accounting
If a cash flow hedge (see 5.2 above) meets the qualifying conditions set out at 6 above
during the period, it should be accounted for as follows:
(a) the separate component of equity associated with the hedged item (cash flow
hedge reserve) is adjusted to the lesser of the following (in absolute amounts):
(i) the cumulative gain or loss on the hedging instrument from inception of the
hedge; and
(ii) the cumulative change in fair value (present value) of the hedged item (i.e. the
present value of the cumulative change in the hedged expected future cash
flows) from inception of the hedge;
(b) the portion of the gain or loss on the hedging instrument that is determined to be
an effective hedge (i.e. the portion that is offset by the change in the cash flow
4076 Chapter 49
hedge reserve calculated in accordance with (a) shall be recognised in other
comprehensive income;
(c) any remaining gain or loss on the hedging instrument (or any gain or loss required
to balance the change in cash flow hedge reserve in accordance with (a)) is hedge
ineffectiveness and shall be recognised in profit or loss; and
(d) if the amount accumulated in the cash flow hedge reserve is a loss and an entity
expects that all or a portion of that loss will not be recovered in one or more future
periods, it shall immediately reclassify the amount that is not expected to be
received into profit or loss as a reclassification adjustment. [IFRS 9.6.5.11, IAS 1.92].
It can be seen that, unlike fair value hedge account
ing (see 7.1.1 above), the application
of cash flow hedge accounting does not amend the accounting for the hedged items, it
is the accounting for the hedging instrument that is changed. However, cash flow hedge
accounting only changes the accounting for the designated portion of the hedging
instrument. For example if the time value of an option, forward element of a forward
contract or foreign currency basis spreads are excluded from the hedge (see 7.5 below)
or a proportion of the instrument is not designated (see 3.6.1 above), the accounting for
those excluded elements remains unchanged by cash flow hedge accounting.
The requirements set out in (a) above are often referred to as the ‘lower of’
requirements. This accounting treatment is illustrated in the following examples.
Example 49.60: Cash flow hedge of anticipated commodity sale
On 30 September 2019, Company A hedges the anticipated sale of 24 tonnes of pulp on 1 March 2020 by
entering into a short forward contract. The contract requires net settlement in cash, determined as the
difference between the future spot price of 24 tonnes of pulp on a specified commodity exchange and £1m.
A expects to sell the pulp in a different, local market.
A designates the forward contract as the hedging instrument in a cash flow hedge of changes in the pulp price
on the cash flows from the anticipated sales. A determines that the hedge effectiveness requirements and the
other hedge accounting criteria are met.
On 31 December 2019, the spot price of pulp has increased both in the local market and on the exchange,
although the increase in the local market exceeds the increase on the exchange. As a result, the present value
of the expected cash inflow from the sale on the local market is £1.1 million and the fair value of the forward
is £85,000 negative. The hedge is still determined to meet the hedge effectiveness criteria. In particular
Company A considers the difference in relative value changes in the local and exchange market price of pulp
to be fluctuations around an appropriate hedge ratio, rather than an indication that the existing 1:1 hedge ratio
is no longer appropriate. [IFRS 9.B6.5.11].
The cumulative change in the fair value of the forward contract is £85,000, while the fair value of the
cumulative change in expected future cash flows on the hedged item is £100,000. Ineffectiveness is not
recognised in the financial statements because the cumulative change in the fair value of the hedged cash
flows exceeds the cumulative change in the value of the hedging instrument. The whole of the fair value
change in the forward contract would be recognised in other comprehensive income.
December 2019
£’000
£’000
Other comprehensive
85
income
Forward contract
85
Financial instruments: Hedge accounting 4077
Example 49.61: Cash flow hedge of a floating rate liability
Company A has a floating rate liability of £1 million with five years remaining to maturity. It enters into a
five year pay-fixed, receive-floating interest rate swap with the same principal terms to hedge the exposure
to variable cash flow payments on the floating rate liability attributable to interest rate risk.
At inception, the swap’s fair value is £nil. Subsequently, there is an increase of £49,000 which consists of a
change of £50,000 resulting from an increase in market interest rates and a change of minus £1,000 resulting
from an increase in the credit risk of the swap counterparty. There is no change in the fair value of the floating
rate liability, but the fair value (present value) of the future cash flows needed to offset the exposure to
variable interest cash flows on the liability increases by £50,000.
Even if A determines that the hedge of interest rate risk meets the hedge effectiveness requirements (which
is quite likely based on the fact pattern), it is not fully effective if part of the change in the fair value of the
derivative is due to the counterparty’s credit risk (see 7.4.4.C below). The accounting will be to credit the
effective portion of the swap’s fair value change, £49,000, to other comprehensive income. There is no debit
to profit or loss for the change in fair value of the swap attributable to the deterioration in the credit quality
of the swap counterparty because the cumulative change in the present value of the future cash flows needed
to offset the exposure to variable interest cash flows on the hedged item, £50,000, exceeds the cumulative
change in value of the hedging instrument, £49,000.
Alternatively, if the fair value of the swap increased to £51,000 of which £50,000 results from the increase in
market interest rates and £1,000 from a decrease in the swap counterparty’s credit risk, there would be a credit
to profit or loss of £1,000 for the change in the swap’s fair value attributable to the improvement in the
counterparty’s credit quality. This is because the cumulative change in the value of the hedging instrument,
£51,000, exceeds the cumulative change in the present value of the future cash flows needed to offset the
exposure to variable interest cash flows on the hedged item, £50,000. The difference of £1,000 represents the
ineffectiveness attributable to the swap, and is recognised in profit or loss.
It can be seen that the measurement of hedge ineffectiveness differs for a cash flow hedge
when compared to a fair value hedge. In a cash flow hedge, if the fair value of the derivative
increases by €10 and the present value of the hedged expected cash flows change by only
€8, the €2 difference is recognised in profit or loss (as would be the case for a fair value
hedge). However, if the present value of the hedged expected cash flows changes by €10,
but the fair value of the derivative changes by only €8, this €2 of hedge ineffectiveness is
not recognised in profit or loss (which would not be the case for a fair value hedge).
Because of this, an entity might consider deliberately under-hedging an exposure in a
cash flow hedge. It might do this by targeting an offset of, say, 85% to 90%, however,
whilst it still might be possible to demonstrate the existence of an economic relationship
for such a designation (see 6.4.1 above), it is unlikely to meet the hedge ratio
requirements (as it seems the hedge ratio was established to avoid recognising
ineffectiveness in a cash flow hedge) and so would most likely be precluded (see 6.4.3
above). [IFRS 9.B6.4.11(a)].
7.2.2
Reclassification of gains and losses recognised in cash flow hedge
reserve from OCI to profit or loss
The amount that has been accumulated in the cash flow hedge reserve in accordance
with 7.2.1 above shall be accounted for as follows:
(a) If a hedged forecast transaction subsequently results in the recognition of a non-
financial asset or liability, or a hedged forecast transaction for a non-financial asset
or liability becomes a firm commitment for which fair value hedge accounting is
applied, the entity shall remove that amount from the cash flow hedge reserve and
include it directly in the initial cost or other carrying amount of the asset or liability,
4078 Chapter 49
this is often referred to as a ‘basis adjustment’. This is not a reclassification
adjustment and hence it does not affect OCI;
&nb
sp; (b) For a hedged transaction in a cash flow hedge other than those covered in (a) above,
that amount shall be reclassified from the cash flow hedge reserve to profit or loss as
a reclassification adjustment in the same period(s) during which the hedged expected
future cash flows affect profit or loss, e.g. in the periods that interest income or
interest expense is recognised or when a forecast sale occurs. [IFRS 9.6.5.11(d)].
The treatments for (a) above is illustrated in the following example.
Example 49.62: Hedge of a firm commitment to acquire equipment
Consider a variation of the situation in Example 49.59 at 7.1.2 above whereby Company X has chosen to treat
all hedges of foreign currency risk associated with firm commitments as cash flow hedges, rather than as fair
value hedges, as permitted by the standard (see 5.2.2 above). Otherwise, the underlying facts and assumptions
are the same. The accounting entries made at the end of March 2019 have not been shown separately (as they
were in Example 49.59) because they are not relevant to the issue being illustrated.
The journal entries to record this hedging relationship would be as follows:
January 2019
No entries are required as the firm commitment is unrecognised, the forward contract is recognised but has a
zero fair value and no cash is paid or received.
July 2019
€
€
Forward contract
50
Other comprehensive income
50
To recognise the change in fair value of the forward contract and, because no ineffectiveness arises, the whole
of this change is recognised in other comprehensive income.
€
€
Cash 50
Forward contract
50
International GAAP® 2019: Generally Accepted Accounting Practice under International Financial Reporting Standards Page 807