First-time adoption of IFRS (IFRS 1)
When an entity applies international
standards for the first time it must make an explicit statement of compliance.
This must be total compliance; the company may not specify exclusions. It must
recognise all assets and liabilities that are required by IFRS and must not
recognise assets and liabilities that are not permitted by IFRS. All
measurements must follow IFRS. The application must be retrospective. That
means that in general the company must present the financial statements as if
IFRS had always been used by the company. The standard sets out some exemptions
from this rule, relating to matters that would be too difficult to reconstruct historically.
Comparative figures in the financial statements must comply with IFRS.