• IFRS 20 Regulatory Assets and Regulatory Liabilities
• Basis for Conclusions on IFRS 20 Regulatory Assets and Regulatory Liabilities
• Illustrative Examples on IFRS 20 Regulatory Assets and Regulatory Liabilities

Registration is required to access the free version of the Issued Standards, which do not include additional documents that accompany the full standard (such as illustrative examples, implementation guidance and basis for conclusions). Note that IFRS 20 was issued after 31 December 2025 and therefore is not included in the 2026 Issued Standards.

IFRS 20 is effective for annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2029, although earlier application is permitted, subject to any local endorsement requirements. The standard supersedes IFRS 14 Regulatory Deferral Accounts, meaning entities currently applying IFRS 14 will need to transition to IFRS 20 once the new standard becomes effective.

IFRS 20 has not yet been endorsed for use in the UK or the EU.

In May 2026, the IASB issued IFRS 20, a new accounting standard for entities subject to rate regulation. Rate regulation can affect both the amount an entity is entitled to charge customers for goods or services and the timing of when that compensation can be recovered through customer charges.

The standard is expected to be particularly relevant to entities operating in regulated sectors such as electricity, gas, water, transportation and other essential services. However, its scope is not limited to specific industries.

IFRS 20 addresses situations where there is a mismatch between the period in which regulatory goods or services are supplied and the period in which the related compensation is charged to customers under a regulatory agreement. In such cases, revenue recognised under IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers may not, on its own, fully reflect an entity’s performance for the reporting period.

The core principle of IFRS 20 is that an entity should recognise the total allowed compensation for regulatory goods or services in the same reporting period in which those goods or services are supplied. To achieve this, the standard requires entities to recognise regulatory assets and regulatory liabilities, together with the related regulatory income and regulatory expense. The intention is to improve the matching of revenue and related costs, enhance the usefulness of information about future cash flows, and increase comparability between entities operating under rate-regulated arrangements.

IFRS 20 replaces IFRS 14 Regulatory Deferral Accounts.

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