Setting the standard: How to make the proposed insurance accounting standard more useful

The development of the planned new IFRS for insurance contracts is an opportunity to create a reporting framework capable of conveying to investors the true value being created within insurance businesses. A consistent measurement of insurance contracts will allow for comparison of insurers’ performance across different groups and territories.

The final outcome of the debate could have a crucial impact on the level and trajectory of insurers’ earnings and how performance and prospects are judged by analysts and investors.

This paper summarises the PwC comment letter on the latest proposals for the future of insurance reporting published by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in July 2010. We’ve also outlined our additional comments on the discussion paper published by the US Financial Accounting Standards Board in September 2010, which seeks views on the IASB exposure draft (ED), as well as input on the differences in views between the IASB and FASB in the insurance contract project.