Home / Answers / Does AASB 2026-4 apply to a superannuation fund?
Does AASB 2026-4 apply to a superannuation fund?
Yes, if the fund prepares Tier 1 general purpose financial statements and applies AASB 1056. The first annual period covered begins on or after 1 January 2028.
Which superannuation funds are in scope?
A fund that prepares Tier 1 general purpose financial statements and applies AASB 1056 is in scope. The instrument is relevant only to Tier 1 general purpose statements, so a Tier 2 or special purpose reporter is outside it. The free check confirms the group and the tier before it returns any paragraph.
What changes in the income statement?
The AASB 18 category model is switched off. The fund does not classify income and expenses into the operating, investing and financing categories, and does not present the paragraph 69(a) and 69(b) subtotals. The AASB 1056 income statement format remains, and every relevant AASB 1056 line item must still be presented.
What happens to the statement of changes in member benefits?
It becomes a primary financial statement for AASB 18 purposes, including its comparatives. That brings the AASB 18 rules on comparatives, labels, and aggregation and disaggregation into the audit scope for that statement.
How are expenses presented?
The fund follows AASB 1056 and does not apply the AASB 18 paragraph 78 requirement or the nature and function guidance in paragraphs B80 to B82. The evidence is the expense note and the mapping from the ledger.
What changes in the cash flow statement?
The fund may classify interest paid, interest received and dividends received as operating cash flows, consistently from period to period. Where the indirect method is used and no operating subtotal is presented, the reconciliation starts at the profit or loss total.
What evidence will the auditor ask for?
A line item mapping from AASB 1056 to each primary statement, a switch-off checklist for the AASB 18 paragraphs, the expense note mapping, the cash flow classification policy, and the reconciliation tie-out to the statement of profit or loss. The kit carries each of these as a row with an owner column to complete.
The paragraphs behind this answer
- AASB 18 paragraph Aus23.1: Present every relevant AASB 1056 line item in the primary statements
- AASB 18 paragraph Aus47.1: Do not force the AASB 18 categories onto a superannuation statement
- AASB 18 paragraph Aus78.1: Classify superannuation expenses under AASB 1056, not AASB 18
- AASB 107 paragraph Aus20.1: Start the indirect method at the profit or loss total when there is no operating subtotal
- AASB 107 paragraph Aus34D.1: Interest paid, interest received and dividends received may be operating
- AASB 1056 paragraph 10A: Do not present AASB 18 category subtotals in a superannuation income statement
- AASB 1056 paragraph 12A: Treat the statement of changes in member benefits as a primary statement
Questions
Is a superannuation fund automatically caught?
No. It must be a Tier 1 general purpose reporter applying AASB 1056. The tier test comes first.
Does the fund still present an operating profit or loss subtotal?
No. AASB 18 paragraph Aus47.1 and AASB 1056 paragraph 10A remove the category subtotals for a superannuation entity applying AASB 1056.
When is the first affected year end?
For a 30 June fund, the first affected period begins 1 July 2028 and ends 30 June 2029. The 31 December 2027 date is commencement, not the first reporting date.