The IFRS Interpretations Committee (Committee) discussed the following matter and tentatively decided not to add a standard-setting project to the work plan. The Committee will reconsider this tentative decision, including the reasons for not adding a standard-setting project, at a future meeting. The Committee invites comments on the tentative agenda decision. All comments will be on the public record and posted on our website unless a respondent requests confidentiality and we grant that request. We do not normally grant such requests unless they are supported by good reason, for example, commercial confidence.
Tentative Agenda Decision
The Committee received a request about the customer’s accounting for costs of configuring or customising the supplier’s application software in a Software as a Service (SaaS) arrangement. In the fact pattern described in the request:
- a customer enters into a SaaS arrangement with a supplier. The contract conveys to the customer the right to receive access to the supplier’s application software over the contract term—that right to receive access does not provide the customer with a software asset at the contract commencement date. Therefore, the access to the software is a service that the customer receives over the contract term.
- the customer incurs upfront costs of configuring or customising the supplier’s application software to which the customer receives access. The request describes configuration and customisation as follows:
- configuration involves the setting of various ‘flags’ or ‘switches’ within the application software, or defining values or parameters, to set up the software’s existing code to function in a specified way.
- customisation involves modifying the software code in the application or writing additional code. Customisation generally changes, or creates additional, functionalities within the software.
In analysing the request, the Committee considered:
- whether, applying IAS 38, the customer recognises an intangible asset in relation to configuration or customisation of the application software (Question I)?
- if an intangible asset is not recognised, how the customer accounts for the configuration or customisation costs (Question II)?
Does the customer recognise an intangible asset in relation to configuration or customisation of the application software (Question I)?
Applying paragraph 18 of IAS 38, an entity recognises an item as an intangible asset when the entity demonstrates that the item meets both the definition of an intangible asset and the recognition criteria in paragraphs 21–23 of IAS 38. IAS 38 defines an intangible asset as ‘an identifiable non-monetary asset without physical substance’. IAS 38 notes that an asset is a resource controlled by an entity and paragraph 13 specifies that an entity controls an asset if it has the power to obtain the future economic benefits flowing from the underlying resource and to restrict the access of others to those benefits.
In the fact pattern described in the request, the supplier controls the application software to which the customer has access. The assessment of whether configuration or customisation of that software results in an intangible asset for the customer depends on the nature and output of the configuration or customisation performed. The Committee observed that, in the SaaS arrangement described in the request, the customer often would not recognise an intangible asset because it does not control the software being configured or customised and those activities do not create an asset that is separate from the software. In some circumstances however, the arrangement may result in, for example, additional code from which the customer has the power to obtain the future economic benefits and to restrict others’ access to those benefits. In that case, the customer assesses whether the additional code is identifiable and meets the recognition criteria in IAS 38 in determining whether to recognise the additional code as an intangible asset.
If an intangible asset is not recognised, how does the customer account for the configuration or customisation costs (Question II)?
If the customer does not recognise an intangible asset in relation to configuration or customisation of the application software, it applies paragraphs 68–70 of IAS 38 to account for those costs. The Committee observed that:
- the customer recognises the costs as an expense when it receives the configuration or customisation services (paragraph 69). Paragraph 69A specifies that ‘services are received when they are performed by a supplier in accordance with a contract to deliver them to the entity and not when the entity uses them to deliver another service…’. In assessing when to recognise the costs as an expense, IAS 38 therefore requires the customer to determine when the supplier performs the configuration or customisation services in accordance with the contract to deliver those services.
- IAS 38 does not include requirements that deal with the identification of the services the customer receives and when the supplier performs those services in accordance with the contract to deliver them. Paragraphs 10–11 of IAS 8 Accounting Policies, Changes in Accounting Estimates and Errors require the customer to refer to, and consider the applicability of, the requirements in IFRS Standards that deal with similar and related issues. The Committee observed that IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers includes requirements that suppliers apply in identifying the promised goods or services in a contract with a customer and when those promised goods or services are transferred to the customer. In the fact pattern described in the request, those requirements in IFRS 15 deal with issues similar and related to those faced by the customer in determining when the supplier performs the configuration or customisation services in accordance with the contract to deliver those services.
- in referring to the requirements in IFRS 15 to determine when the supplier performs the configuration or customisation services in accordance with the contract to deliver them:
- if the services the customer receives are distinct, then the customer recognises the costs as an expense when the supplier configures or customises the application software.
- if the services the customer receives are not distinct (because those services are not separately identifiable from the customer’s right to receive access to the supplier's application software), then the customer recognises the costs as an expense when the supplier provides access to the application software over the contract term.
- if the customer pays the supplier before receiving the services, it recognises the prepayment as an asset (paragraph 70 of IAS 38).
Paragraphs 117–124 of IAS 1 Presentation of Financial Statements require the customer to disclose its accounting policy for configuration or customisation costs when that disclosure is relevant to an understanding of its financial statements.
The Committee concluded that the principles and requirements in IFRS Standards provide an adequate basis for a customer to determine its accounting for configuration or customisation costs incurred in relation to the SaaS arrangement described in the request. Consequently, the Committee [decided] not to add a standard-setting project to the work plan.
The deadline for commenting on the tentative agenda decision is 15 February 2021. The Committee will consider all comments received in writing by that date; agenda papers analysing comments received will include analysis only of comments received by that date.
