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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

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