國際財務報導準則第十七號「保險合約」：期中財務報表會計政策選擇對合約服務邊際後續衡量之影響

Abstract

國際會計準則理事會（International Accounting Standards Board）於2020年提出國際財務報導準則第十七號「保險合約」之修正案，修正案之議題為討論初版IFRS17中規定，適用IFRS17之個體同時需適用國際會計準則三十四號「期中財務報導」發布期中財務報表時個體不得改變先前期中期間所做之會計估計處理，此一規定受到利害關係人之挑戰，因此IASB在會議中討論並作成修正案之決議，允許個體自行選擇於後續期中財務報表期間是否改變先前期中期間所做之會計估計處理。 本文將透過對IFRS17、IAS34、及2020年IFRS17修正案會議記錄之研究，分析此修正案之背景及討論內容，並透過釋例進一步分析修正案所要求之會計政策選擇下，兩種不同選擇結果對於個體之合約服務邊際後續衡量之影響。並做成若個體選擇於後續期中財務報表期間可能改變先前期中期間所做之會計估計處理，則可以提供較準確的年度財務狀況之結論，但於此同時也可能會因為估計變動的影響導致單季期中財務報表之損益有較大的震盪；反之個體選擇於後續期中財務報表期間不改變先前期中期間所做之會計估計處理，則在較簡單的會計處理流程下，年度結果之衡量較另一方法不準確，但年度中間各季末之期中財務報表之損益表現較平穩。 上述結果顯示此一會計政策選擇可能降低未來財務報表之可理解性及可比較性，而本文希望透過此篇研究，分析兩種會計政策選擇在此結果上之差異，進而降低因為會計政策選擇不同而對財務報表可比較性的衝突，以及財務報表使用者對於此會計政策選擇之認識提高財務報表之可理解性。

In 2020, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) proposed an amendment to IFRS 17, 'Insurance Contracts'. The issue of the amendment was to discuss the requirement about the requirement relating to interim financial statements in IFRS 17. The amendment was discussed in the meeting of the IASB to allow entity to choose whether to change the treatment of accounting estimates made in previous interim financial statements. In this paper, we analyze the background and discussion of IFRS 17, IAS 34, and IFRS 17 Amendments 2020 by examining the minutes of the meetings, and further analyze the impact of the two different accounting policy choices on the subsequent measurement of contractual service margins. If an entity chooses to change the accounting estimates made in the prior interim period during the subsequent interim financial statement period, it may provide more accurate annual measurement results, but at the same time, it may also result in greater volatility in the profit or loss of the single quarterly interim financial statement due to the effect of the change in estimates. In contrast, if an entity chooses not to change the accounting estimates made in the prior interim period in the subsequent interim financial statements, the annual results are measured less accurately than the other method under a simpler accounting process, but the performance of the interim financial statements at the end of each quarter in the middle of the year is more stable. The above results indicate that this accounting policy choice may reduce the understandability and comparability of financial statements. Through this study, we hope to analyze the difference in this result between the two accounting policy choices, so as to reduce the conflicts on the comparability of financial statements due to the different accounting policy choices, and to improve the understandability of financial statements for users of financial statements.