The next steps for UK insurance accounting
practitioners will no doubt be influenced by the standard setters’
suggestions, says Mike Vickery
In January 2012, the Accounting Standards Board rolled out proposals
to replace the current suite of UK accounting rules with a single
UK accounting standard which has been developed from the IFRS for
SMEs, from 2015.
The problem for the ASB, in the short term at least, is that
it is not clear what UK GAAP for insurance should be.
For the accountants entrusted with making sure the numbers add
up, this is set to be a crucial time as a solution is carved out.
One approach would be to draw on existing UK GAAP for insurers
(as set out in the Association of British Insurers’ recommended
practice on Accounting for Insurance Business and, for life insurers,
FRS 27, Life Assurance).
