Financial instruments — Derecognition (2024)

FAQs

What is derecognition of financial instruments? ›

Derecognition refers to the removal of an asset or liability (or a portion thereof) from an entity's balance sheet. Derecognition questions can arise with respect to all types of assets and liabilities. This project focuses on financial instruments.

Accounting for an Asset Derecognition

The gain or loss on derecognition is calculated as the net disposal proceeds, minus the asset's carrying value.

A company derecognises a financial asset when the contractual rights to the cash flows from the financial asset have expired, or it transfers the financial asset such that it qualifies for derecognition.

An entity shall derecognise a financial liability (or a part of a financial liability) only when it is extinguished—ie when the obligation specified in the contract is discharged, is cancelled or expires.

Example – Derecognition of a financial asset

Whenever a customer settles an invoice, the amount received is debited to cash, and credited against the trade receivables balance, thus derecognising the financial asset.

Common examples of financial instruments include stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), mutual funds, real estate investment trusts (REITs), bonds, derivatives contracts (such as options, futures, and swaps), checks, certificates of deposit (CDs), bank deposits, and loans.

If this occurs, then the disposal journal entry will simply remove the carrying value of the asset, report the net proceeds received, and report a gain or loss on disposal. This gain or loss will be reported on the income statement, but gains cannot be classified as revenues.

Derecognition of an asset occurs whenever it is disposed of or it is not expected to generate any future benefits either from its use or disposal. As a result, the asset is removed from the financial statements. Disposal of a long-lived operating asset is affected by selling it, exchanging it, or abandoning it.

The entity shall disclose if a gain or loss on derecognition arose because the fair values of the components of the previously recognised asset (ie the interest in the asset derecognised and the interest retained by the entity) were different from the fair value of the previously recognised asset as a whole.

Answer and Explanation: The correct answer is (c) The financial asset has been transferred and the entity has retained substantially all the risks and rewards of ownership of the transferred asset.

When an entity shall derecognize a financial asset when and only when? ›

An entity shall derecognise a financial asset when, and only when: (a) the contractual rights to the cash flows from the financial asset expire, or (b) it transfers the financial asset and the transfer qualifies for derecognition.

Asset's recognition is an expenditure that will result in economic benefit flowing to the owner in future reporting periods. Derecognition of assets refers to the removal of an asset (or a portion thereof) from an entity's balance sheet.

Depreciation ceases when an asset is derecognized or when the asset is classified as held for sale in accordance with ASC 360-10-35-43. Therefore, depreciation generally does not stop when an asset is temporarily idled.

Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. It is therefore a market-based measurement and not specific to each entity.

when no future economic benefits are expected from its disposal.

In simple words, any asset which holds capital and can be traded in the market is referred to as a financial instrument. Some examples of financial instruments are cheques, shares, stocks, bonds, futures, and options contracts.

An investment property shall be derecognised (eliminated from the statement of financial position) on disposal or when the investment property is permanently withdrawn from use and no future economic benefits are expected from its disposal.