Objective

The objective of this Standard is to prescribe the accounting and disclosure for employee benefits. The Standard requires an entity to recognise:

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(a) a liability when an employee has provided service in exchange for employee benefits to be paid in the future; and

 

(b) an expense when the entity consumes the economic benefit arising from service provided by an employee in exchange for employee benefits.

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Scope

1. This Standard shall be applied by an employer in accounting for all employee benefits, except those to which NZ IFRS 2 Share-based Payment applies.

 

2. This Standard does not deal with reporting by employee benefit plans (see NZ IAS 126 Accounting and Reporting by Retirement Benefit Plans).

 

3. The employee benefits to which this Standard applies to include those provided:

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(a) under formal plans or other formal agreements between an entity and individual employees, groups of employees or their representatives;

(b) under legislative requirements, or through industry arrangements, whereby entities are required to contribute to national, state, industry or other multi-employer plans; or

(c) by those informal practices that give rise to a constructive obligation. Informal practices give rise to a constructive obligation where the entity has no realistic alternative but to pay employee benefits. An example of a constructive obligation is where a change in the entity’s informal practices would cause unacceptable damage to its relationship with employees.

 

4. Employee benefits include:

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(a) short-term employee benefits, such as the following, if expected to be settled wholly before twelve months after the end of the annual reporting period in which the employees render the related services:

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(i) wages, salaries and social security contributions;

(ii) paid annual leave and paid sick leave;

(iii) profit-sharing and bonuses; and

(iv) non-monetary benefits (such as medical care, housing, cars and free or subsidised goods or services) for current employees; 

 

(b) post-employment benefits, such as the following:

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(i) retirement benefits (eg pensions and lump sum payments on retirement); and

(ii) other post-employment benefits, such as post-employment life insurance and post-employment medical care;

 

(c) other long-term employee benefits, such as the following:

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(i) long-term paid absences such as long-service leave or sabbatical leave;

(ii) jubilee or other long-service benefits; and

(iii) long-term disability benefits; and

 

(d) termination benefits.

 

5. Employee benefits include benefits provided either to employees or to their dependants or beneficiaries and may be settled by payments (or the provision of goods or services) made either directly to the employees, to their spouses, children or other dependants or to others, such as insurance companies.

 

6. An employee may provide services to an entity on a full-time, part-time, permanent, casual or temporary basis. For the purpose of this Standard, employees include directors and other management personnel.

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