ipsas 29—financial instruments: recognition and measurement - IFAC
ipsas 29—financial instruments: recognition and measurement - IFAC
ipsas 29—financial instruments: recognition and measurement - IFAC
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FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS: RECOGNITION AND MEASUREMENT<br />
hedged. A common risk typically shared by a portfolio of financial <strong>instruments</strong> is<br />
exposure to changes in the risk-free or benchmark interest rate or to changes in a<br />
specified rate that has a credit exposure equal to the highest credit-rated instrument<br />
in the portfolio (i.e., the instrument with the lowest credit risk). If the <strong>instruments</strong><br />
that are grouped into a portfolio have different credit exposures, they may be hedged<br />
as a group for a portion of the exposure. The risk they have in common that is<br />
designated as being hedged is the exposure to interest rate changes from the highest<br />
credit rated instrument in the portfolio. This ensures that the change in fair value<br />
attributable to the hedged risk for each individual item in the group is expected to be<br />
approximately proportional to the overall change in fair value attributable to the<br />
hedged risk of the group. It is likely there will be some ineffectiveness if the hedging<br />
instrument has a credit quality that is inferior to the credit quality of the highest<br />
credit-rated instrument being hedged, since a hedging relationship is designated for a<br />
hedging instrument in its entirety (IPSAS 29.83). For example, if a portfolio of assets<br />
consists of assets rated A, BB <strong>and</strong> B, <strong>and</strong> the current market interest rates for these<br />
assets are LIBOR+20 basis points, LIBOR+40 basis points <strong>and</strong> LIBOR+60 basis<br />
points, respectively, an entity may use a swap that pays fixed interest rate <strong>and</strong> for<br />
which variable interest payments based on LIBOR are made to hedge the exposure to<br />
variable interest rates. If LIBOR is designated as the risk being hedged, credit<br />
spreads above LIBOR on the hedged items are excluded from the designated hedge<br />
relationship <strong>and</strong> the assessment of hedge effectiveness.<br />
F.6.3 Illustrative Example of Applying the Approach in Question F.6.2<br />
The purpose of this example is to illustrate the process of establishing, monitoring<br />
<strong>and</strong> adjusting hedge positions <strong>and</strong> of qualifying for cash flow hedge accounting in<br />
applying the approach to hedge accounting described in Question F.6.2 when an<br />
entity manages its interest rate risk on an entity-wide basis. To this end, this<br />
example identifies a methodology that allows for the use of hedge accounting <strong>and</strong><br />
takes advantage of existing risk management systems so as to avoid unnecessary<br />
changes to it <strong>and</strong> to avoid unnecessary bookkeeping <strong>and</strong> tracking.<br />
The approach illustrated here reflects only one of a number of risk management<br />
processes that could be employed <strong>and</strong> could qualify for hedge accounting. Its use is<br />
not intended to suggest that other alternatives could not or should not be used. The<br />
approach being illustrated could also be applied in other circumstances (such as for<br />
cash flow hedges), for example, hedging the rollover of commercial paper financing.<br />
Identifying, Assessing <strong>and</strong> Reducing Cash Flow Exposures<br />
The discussion <strong>and</strong> illustrations that follow focus on the risk management activities of an<br />
entity, such as a department of finance that manages its interest rate risk by analyzing<br />
expected cash flows in a particular currency on an entity-wide basis. The cash flow<br />
analysis forms the basis for identifying the interest rate risk of the entity, entering into<br />
hedging transactions to manage the risk, assessing the effectiveness of risk management<br />
activities, <strong>and</strong> qualifying for <strong>and</strong> applying cash flow hedge accounting.<br />
IPSAS 29 IMPLEMENTATION GUIDANCE 1254