Predicting the future is always a difficult game. But it is fair to assume that the demands of IFRS 9 Financial Instruments and the US Current Expected Credit Loss (CECL) standard will lead companies to up their focus on data management this year.

The shift in the treatment of impairments from an incurred-loss model to one that involves measuring expected credit losses, will mean substantial adjustments to data management systems. Principles and procedures for classifying assets in terms of credit quality and calculating losses likely to accrue from them will have to be developed.