Accounting Standards for Pension Plans

Guidance Framework

Summary

The Accounting Standards Board (AcSB) has established a framework for issuing guidance to address issues in applying Accounting Standards for Private Enterprises, Accounting Standards for Not-for-Profit Organizations, and Accounting Standards for Pension Plans. The Board encourages members of the public to submit issues for possible consideration as part of its Guidance Framework. The Board will discuss issues that meet the criteria set out below and consider when further guidance is needed.

To be considered by the AcSB, the issue should meet the following criteria:

the issue is prevalent;
there is diversity in practice; and
the accounting outcome will impact financial statement users’ decisions.

To find out if the AcSB has discussed an issue relating to Accounting Standards for Pension Plans that you need information about, read the decision summaries on this project page.

Staff Contact(s)

Danielle MacLeod, CPA, CA Associate Director, Accounting Standards Board

+1 416 204 3951

[email protected]

Project Status

Information gathering

The AcSB is considering issues submitted and will decide whether further non-authoritative or authoritative guidance is needed for those issues that meet its Guidance Framework criteria
Approving project
Engaging communities
Deliberating feedback
Final pronouncement

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Meeting & event summaries

March 11, 2026

AcSB Decision Summary – March 11-12, 2026

Guidance Framework: Part IV of the Handbook and IFRS 18

Presentation and Disclosure in Financial Statements

The AcSB discussed and considered input from its Pension Plan Advisory Committee on a question regarding whether the new standard, IFRS 18 Presentation and Disclosure in Financial Statements, will result in a requirement for pension plans that apply Part IV of the CPA Canada Handbook, to disclose management-defined performance measures.

Section 4600 Pension Plans requires a pension plan to follow the general financial statement presentation requirements with respect to fair presentation, comparative information, and materiality in Part I of the CPA Canada Handbook – IFRS Accounting Standards or Part II of the Handbook. Applying Part I or II of the Handbook in this case would be consistent with the choice the pension plan has made for accounting policies that do not relate to its investment portfolio or pension obligations.

Based on the committee’s feedback, diversity in practice is not expected to arise with respect to disclosing management-defined performance measures at this time. Management-defined performance measures as currently defined by IFRS Accounting Standards in Part I of the Handbook are not prevalent for pension plans. Therefore, the AcSB concluded that the question did not meet its Guidance Framework criteria such that no further guidance is needed at this time to address the question raised.

December 11, 2025

AcSB Decision Summary – December 11, 2025

Guidance Framework: Part IV/IFRS 18

The AcSB discussed an issue raised as to whether the new standard IFRS 18 Presentation and Disclosure of Financial Statements will result in a requirement for pension plans that apply Part IV – Accounting Standards for Pension Plans, to disclose management-defined performance measures.

The AcSB decided to seek feedback from its Pension Plan Advisory Committee at their January 2026 meeting. The Board will discuss the Committee’s feedback at its March 2026 meeting.

September 16, 2025

AcSB Decision Summary – September 16-17, 2025

Guidance Framework: Derecognition of Financial Liabilities

The AcSB discussed and considered input from its Pension Plan Advisory Committee (PPAC) on an application question raised regarding the derecognition of financial liabilities settled through cheques by pension plans applying Accounting Standards for Pension Plans in Part IV of the Handbook.

Based on the feedback from the Committee, the AcSB assessed whether the criteria in its Guidance Framework was met to determine if additional guidance or standard setting is needed to address the issue. The Board concluded that the issue did not meet the criteria and therefore no further action is needed at this time.

February 11, 2025

AcSB Decision Summary – February 11, 2025

Guidance Framework: Disclosure of Accounting Policies

The AcSB discussed and considered input from its Pension Plan Advisory Committee on an application question raised regarding the disclosure of accounting policy information by pension plans in accordance with in Part IV of the Handbook – Accounting Standards for Pension Plans.

Based on the Committee’s feedback, the AcSB assessed whether the criteria in its Guidance Framework was met to determine if additional guidance or standard setting is needed to address the issue. The Board concluded that the issue did not meet the criteria and, therefore, no further action is needed at this time.

March 5, 2024

AcSB Decision Summary – March 5-6, 2024

Guidance Framework

The AcSB discussed and approved the proposed guidance framework for domestic standards.

The framework begins with determining whether the issue raised meets the proposed criteria for further discussion. This includes questions related to prevalence and diversity of the issue, and the impact of the accounting outcome on users’ decisions . These criteria will be posted on the AcSB’s website for the public to understand the process and to provide transparency on how the Board considers issues.

If an issue meets the criteria, it will be discussed by the relevant advisory committee at a subsequent meeting. The Committee will seek to understand the judgments involved in coming to accounting conclusions on the issue. All this information will be given to the AcSB to determine the appropriate course of action.

The AcSB decided that, going forward, decision summaries will present application issues that meet the criteria, and that the Committee and the Board have discussed. These decision summaries will be the public’s key source of information about these issues.

Finally, the AcSB considered a formalized risk assessment that will be carried out before issuing a final standard to determine whether areas warrant additional implementation support.

Disclaimer

This project summary has been prepared for information purposes only. Decisions reported are tentative and reflect only the current status of discussions on this project, which may change after further Board deliberations. Decisions to publish Handbook material are final only after a formal voting process.