IFRS 17 is boring. Full stop!?

There are many people out there, who have never heard about IFRS 17 for insurance contract. As I meet them, I hear often that IFRS 17 is boring. Well, there is a logic to it: IFRS is boring, insurance is boring, what could be more boring than IFRS 17 combining IFRS and insurance? After many years working with IFRS 17, I would like to share with you my survival tips, if you consider an IFRS 17 job.

Tip 1. Meeting new people gives us a chance to see things from a different angle.

‘More than anything, the IFRS story is one of remarkable people from around the world working together in pursuit of a common and noble goal’ as Hans Hoogervorst, former Chairman of the International Accounting Standards Boards (IASB), once said**. I met Hans and his team in London as I learned about IFRS 17 at the IASB and adored watching over years how they brought the Standard through numerous hurdles to life. I also met hundreds if not thousands of incredible people on my IFRS 17 journey. We were arguing endlessly about methodological interpretations and celebrated together our small and big successes. I hope that some people I met on my IFRS 17 journey will read this post to find out that I remember about them, miss them a lot and value the precious time that I so much enjoyed working together.

Tip 2. Look in other geographical areas. Many miles away from home IFRS 17 could be less boring.

IFRS 17 is truly international. I was dreaming about IFRS 17 in Moscow. I moved to London to learn it and worked on implementation projects in London, Edinburgh, Düsseldorf and Munich. I travelled to Singapore and Moscow to meet insurers and regulators to discuss the standard. I was part of expert communities bringing together all continents and huge number of countries and regions. IFRS 17 development and implementation is a global effort to find common grounds in telling the story of the insurance business. It is an exciting journey all around the world that knows no borders, because now insurers from the whole world speak the same language of IFRS 17.

Tip 3. If you are bored with accounting, try your luck in actuarial, IT, data, project management or controlling activities.

IFRS 17 taught us how to break silos. Insurance is a complex business and many different professionals invest their efforts to make it work. Traditionally professionals from different areas work only occasionally together without being deeply engaged in the areas of expertise of each other. IFRS 17 brings many areas of expertise together. I came in IFRS 17 projects with accounting background. First, I learned to work very closely with actuaries. They taught me everything about stochastic modelling for options and guarantees in life insurance. I explained them the essence of the debits and credits that they otherwise had to learn by heart. I was spending months locked in a room with actuaries and IT experts discussing how IFRS 17 should work in SAP FPSL (Financial Product Subledger, software for IFRS 17 modelling and accounting). We were searching together for workarounds if something did not work, as we wanted. If formulas from actuaries could not help, then debits and credits were the last resort. Finally, different insurers from around the world came together to share with each other their successes, workarounds and additional requirements and decide about further development of the IFRS 17 software. Now the first results are coming to controllers and they finally put together a story about insurance business for investors.

The numerous eureka-moments my colleagues and I experienced working together will stay with me until the end of my life. What could be more valuable than to see strangers being truly interested in what matters to you and you help them understand the heart of it?

Tip 4. Arrange a party if nothing helps.

After such a long way as the standard was developed and then implemented, barely single pub in London, Biergarten in Munich or restaurant in Singapore left unattended. However, this holiday season is somewhat special to us. We, as a global insurance community, have something substantial to celebrate this time. IFRS 4, interim standard for insurance contracts, was issued in 2004. Since then we worked 13 years together on development of IFRS 17 and then another 6 years on implementation of the standard. 1 January 2023 is the effective date for IFRS 17. Cheers to all of us for the incredibly long way that we have already made and best luck with managing the challenges we will all face in the first year as IFRS 17 goes live! ??

* Abbreviations and definitions: IFRS | International Financial Reporting Standard IFRS 17 | new financial reporting standard for financial contracts

** https://www.ifrs.org/news-and-events/news/2021/06/final-observations-of-an-accidental-accountant/

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