Technical report: Guidance on disclosures about uncertainties in financial statements

12 December 2025

In November 2025, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) published a suite of six new illustrative examples and related guidance to enhance the transparency and quality of disclosures regarding uncertainties in financial statements. These examples, which accompany existing standards (notably IFRS 7, IFRS 18 or IAS 1, IAS 8, IAS 36, and IAS 37), are designed to clarify best practices for disclosure in financial statements without amending the underlying requirements of the standards. The guidance is effective immediately, and companies are expected to implement any necessary enhancements in their 2025 year-end reporting.

The new guidance emphasises the need for entities to provide clear, comprehensive, and meaningful disclosures about uncertainties—particularly those related to climate, but also encompassing geopolitical, market, and regulatory risks. Key requirements include the disclosure of “no-impact” scenarios, disaggregation of information where risk profiles differ, explicit articulation of key forward-looking assumptions, and detailed explanations of how emerging risks are incorporated into credit risk and impairment assessments. The guidance also underscores the importance of qualitative materiality, requiring disclosure of obligations that may be immaterial in the current period but significant in nature or potential impact.

Audit firms, regulators, and investors have all signalled strong support for these enhancements, with a focus on ensuring consistency between narrative reports and financial statements.