IFRS 9

Commodity price risks: Volatility, hedging and ‘own-use’

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The mark-to-market of commodity supply contracts, such as power purchase agreements and related derivatives, can create significant volatility in profit and loss. But are these gains and losses meaningful, and should you remove them from performance measures as many companies do in their non-GAAP reporting?

There are 4 methods of accounting for power purchase agreements and, confusingly, you could find all of them applied by one company. We explain how each method works, when fair value gains and losses arise, the implications for your analysis, and how all this will be affected by a recent change to IFRS 9.

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Most likely profit may not be the most relevant profit

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Analyst forecasts may not take into account the distribution, particularly the skewness, of potential outcomes. A forecast of the most likely profit can significantly differ from the more relevant probability weighted expected value.

Whether a forecast is a mean or a mode is also important in financial reporting. Most IFRS standards, including IFRS 9 regarding loan impairments, require a probability weighted expected value; however, this is not universal. In some cases, such as IAS 37 regarding provisions, the requirements are unclear.

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Ignore this ‘recycled’ profit – Ping An

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There is a particular gain or loss in the income statement of many companies that, in our view, is irrelevant to investors. Fortunately, it is gradually disappearing from most IFRS financial statements due to the introduction of IFRS 9. However, if you invest in insurance companies you might not be so lucky.

Chinese insurer Ping An’s pre-2018 results were significantly impacted. But no longer – the company is one of the few IFRS reporters in the global insurance sector where investors now benefit from the elimination of this ‘irrelevant’ component of profit & loss.

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Investors need fair value, not fake value

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Equity investments currently reported at fair value could be measured at cost or some other ‘fake value’ in EU companies’ financial statements, depending on the outcome of a European Commission consultation.

There seems to be a never-ending debate in Europe about fair value measurement, particularly regarding equity investments. In our view any move to change the current financial reporting requirements would be detrimental for users of financial statements.

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