Gestaltungsformen der Bilanzierung von Versicherungsverträgen: ein kritischer Vergleich von Deferral / Matching- und Asset / Liability-Ansätzen

On 31 of March 2004 the IASB issued the IFRS 4 (Insurance Contracts), which is a stepping stone to the second phase of its project on insurance contracts. The new standard deals with limited improvements to accounting practices for insurance contracts, without requiring major changes that may need to be revised in phase II. In the second phase of the project a recognition and measurement model is expected to be finalised which differs significantly from the traditional approach to accounting for insurance contracts. It will be an asset / liability-approach that requires an entity to identify and measure directly the rights and obligations arising from insurance contracts. The resulting assets and liabilities should be measured at their fair value. In contrast to the asset / liability-approach, the traditional approach to accounting for insurance contracts, referred to as deferral / mat-ching-approach, emphasises the measurement of income. Both approaches and their corresponding implications on the balance sheet and the profit and loss statement are analysed in detail.