IFRS 9 and Covid-19: evidence from banks' financial statements

Abstract

The outbreak of the economic crisis in 2008 led, among other things, to the implementation of the accounting standard IFRS 9. The reason was that its predecessor, IAS 39, had been blamed for exacerbating the financial crisis because of its procyclicality. The health and then economic crisis triggered by covid 19 is the first real test of whether IFRS 9 meets the anti-cyclical characteristics attributed to it by the IASB. The thesis, therefore, starting with an explanation of the accounting standard implemented, will continue with an analysis of the literature relating to the analysis of the cyclicality of provisions and, in general, of impairment of financial instruments. In the final section, after reviewing the guidance from major organisations on the application of IFRS 9 the focus will be on the analysis of the financial statements of the two main Italian banks with regard to how the new accounting standard has impacted the financial statements from the point of view of provisions and asset classification, and whether it is characterised by an anticylical trend