IPSAS Explained: A Summary of International Public Sector Accounting Standards, 2nd Edition

IPSAS 15: Financial Instruments: Disclosure and Presentation

Preliminary note

IPSAS 15 was issued in December 2001 and was drawn primarily from IAS 32 (revised 1998). Since then the IASB has issued revised standards on financial instruments. In January 2010 the IPSASB published IPSAS 28, Financial Instruments: Presentation, IPSAS 29, Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement and IPSAS 30, Financial Instruments: Disclosures as an integrated package. IPSAS 15 has been superseded by IPSAS 28 and IPSAS 30. IPSAS 28 as well as IPSAS 30 apply for annual financial statements covering periods beginning on or after 1 January 2013 (earlier application is encouraged). Therefore, IPSAS 15 remains applicable until IPSAS 28 and IPSAS 30 are applied or become effective, whichever is earlier.

Objective

The dynamic nature of international financial markets has resulted in the widespread use of a variety of financial instruments ranging from traditional primary instruments, such as bonds, to various forms of derivative instruments, such as interest rate swaps. Public sector entities use a wide range of financial instruments from simple instruments such as payables and receivables to more complex instruments (such as cross-currency swaps to hedge commitments in foreign currencies) in their operations. To a lesser extent, public sector entities may issue equity instruments or compound liability/equity instruments. This may occur where an economic entity includes a partly-privatized Government ...