The Saudi Organization for Chartered and Professional Accountants (SOCPA), represented by its Accounting Standards Board, has adopted the International Accounting Standards Board's IFRS 19 for implementation in Saudi Arabia.
The standard primarily aims to simplify financial statement preparation mechanisms and systems while reducing costs for non-publicly accountable subsidiaries when preparing their financial statements in accordance with the full IFRS, provided that the parent entity (intermediate or ultimate) prepares its general-purpose financial statements according to the full IFRS.
The reduced disclosure requirements in the standard seek to decrease the time and cost needed for preparing and auditing financial statements and making them available to the parent entity for consolidated financial statement preparation.
Following SOCPA's Accounting Standards Board regulations, the Board implemented the international standards adoption procedures, which included preparing a detailed study of the standard, presenting the standard with its translation and the Board's initial recommendation for adoption to the public, and holding a roundtable meeting. Through these procedures, the Board decided on 25-06-1446H (corresponding to 26-12-2024) to adopt IFRS 19 and its consequential amendments to other standards in Saudi Arabia, allowing early adoption and applying the additional disclosures stipulated in the IFRS adoption document when implementing this standard.
Note that the standard's application is "optional"; a subsidiary may choose to apply this standard or implement the full IFRS version, including its disclosure requirements. It may also apply it during a specific period and discontinue its application in future periods according to conditions specified by the standard.
To view IFRS 19, click
here.
To view a summary of the public consultation procedures regarding the adoption of IFRS 19 and its related study, click
here.