Constant Purchasing Power Accounting

Constant Purchasing Power Accounting

Capital Maintenance in Units of Constant Purchasing Power is the IASB's basic accounting model originally authorized in IFRS in 1989 as an alternative to traditional historical cost accounting where under financial capital maintenance is always and everywhere measured in units of constant purchasing power in terms of a Daily CPI (consumer price index) or monetized daily indexed unit of account (e.g. the Unidad de Fomento in Chile) during low inflation and deflation and in terms of a daily relatively stable foreign currency parallel rate or daily index during high inflation and hyperinflation because there is no stable measuring unit assumption under Capital Maintenance in Units of Constant Purchasing Power. Capital Maintenance in Units of Constant Purchasing Power implements financial capital maintenance in units of constant purchasing power – as originally authorized in IFRS in the Framework (1989), Par 104 (a) ] which states: "Financial capital maintenance can be measured in either nominal monetary units or units of constant purchasing power" as an alternative to the 3000-year-old generally accepted globally implemented traditional HCA (Historical Cost Accounting) model – with differentiated variable and constant real value non-monetary items in terms of a Daily CPI which automatically maintains the real value of capital constant for an indefinite period of time in all entities that at least break even in real value at all levels of inflation and deflation – ceteris paribus. Net constant item losses and gains are calculated and accounted whenever constant items are not measured in units of constant purchasing power. Variable real value non-monetary items are valued in terms of IFRS and then updated daily in terms of the Daily CPI. Historical variable items are updated in terms of the Daily CPI because there is no stable measuring unit assumption under Capital Maintenance in Units of Constant Purchasing Power. Monetary items are always and everywhere (current period and historical monetary items) inflation-adjusted in terms of the Daily CPI since the stable measuring unit assumption is rejected under capital maintenance in units of constant purchasing power. Net monetary losses and gains are calculated and accounted whenever monetary items are not inflation-adjusted. Capital Maintenance in Units of Constant Purchasing Power is a price-level accounting model.

Capital Maintenance in Units of Constant Purchasing Power automatically maintains the constant purchasing power of capital constant for an indefinite period of time in all entities that at least break even in real value at all levels of inflation and deflation (including during hyperinflation as guide-lined in IAS 29) – ceteris paribus – whether they own any revaluable fixed asset or not.

Capital Maintenance in Units of Constant Purchasing Power only maintains the real value of all non-monetary items (the entire real or non-monetary economy) relatively stable when these items are valued on a daily basis in terms of a Brazilian-style non-monetary index or daily parallel rate (normally the daily US Dollar parallel rate) during hyperinflation. IAS 29 requires the restatement of Historical Cost or Current Cost period-end financial statements in terms of the period-end monthly published Consumer Price Index during hyperinflation. IAS 29 should be implemented in terms of daily valuation of all non-monetary items in units of constant purchasing power in terms of the Daily CPI which would maintain 100 per cent of current period profits constant in real value. IAS 29 thus requires the implementation of financial capital maintenance in units of constant purchasing power.

Capital Maintenance in Units of Constant Purchasing Power was authorized in IFRS in the IASB's original Framework for the Preparation and Presentation of Financial Statements, Par. 104 (a) in 1989. In terms of the original Framework, (1989) Par 104 (a) accountants choose Capital Maintenance in Units of Constant Purchasing Power to implement a financial capital concept of invested purchasing power, i.e. financial capital maintenance in units of constant purchasing power at all levels of inflation and deflation instead of the traditional HC concept of invested money. They thus implement a Constant Purchasing Power financial capital maintenance concept by measuring financial capital maintenance in units of constant purchasing power instead of traditional HC nominal monetary units and they implement a Constant Purchasing Power profit/loss determination concept in units of constant purchasing power instead of in real value eroding nominal monetary units under HCA. Examples of constant items are issued share capital, retained income, capital reserves, all other items in shareholders´ equity, trade debtors, trade creditors, provisions, deferred tax assets and liabilities, all other non-monetary payables, all other non-monetary receivables, salaries, wages, rentals, all other items in the income statement, etc. Examples of variable items are property, plant, equipment, listed and unlisted shares, inventory, foreign exchange, etc. Variable items are valued in terms of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) at for example fair value, market value, recoverable value, present value, net realizable value, etc. or Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) during non-hyperinflationary periods.

Monetary items, variable real value non-monetary items and constant real value non-monetary items are the three fundamentally different basic economic items in the economy.

Capital Maintenance in Units of Constant Purchasing Power automatically maintains the real value of capital constant in all entities that at least break even in real value including banks´ and companies´ capital base, for an unlimited period of time – all else being equal- whether these entities own revaluable fixed assets or not and without the requirement of additional capital from capital providers in the form of extra money or extra retained profits simply to maintain the existing constant real non-monetary value of existing capital constant. This is opposed to the traditional historical cost accounting model under which the real value of that portion of shareholders´ equity never maintained constant with sufficient revaluable fixed assets (revalued or not) are unknowingly, unnecessarily and unintentionally eroded at a rate equal to the annual rate of inflation as a result of the implementation of the very erosive stable measuring unit assumption under HCA. Capital Maintenance in Units of Constant Purchasing Power was authorized in IFRS in 1989 as an alternative to the traditional HCA model at all levels of inflation and deflation in the original Framework (1989) and is applicable as a result of the absence of specific IFRS relating to the concepts of capital and capital maintenance and the valuation of specific constant real value non-monetary items.

The original Framework (1989), Par 104 (a) is applicable at all levels of inflation and deflation, including during hyperinflation as specifically guide-lined in IAS 29.

Discredited 1970-style Constant Purchasing Power Accounting was a form of inflation accounting which tried unsuccessfully – by updating all non-monetary items (variable real value non-monetary items and constant real value non-monetary items) equally by means of the period-end monthly published CPI in an unsuccessful attempt to correct the real value eroding effect of the stable measuring unit assumption during high inflation (but not yet hyperinflation) in the 1970´s. Under Capital Maintenance in Units of Constant Purchasing Power all non-monetary items – constant and variable items – are updated daily in terms of a Brazilian-style non-monetary index or a hard currency parallel rate during hyperinflation.

The Capital Maintenance in Units of Constant Purchasing Power model presents substantial benefits, for example, automatically maintaining banks' and companies' existing capital base constant for an indefinite period of time in all entities that at least break even in real value at all levels of inflation and deflation - ceteris paribus.

Certain income statement constant real value non-monetary items, most notably salaries, wages, rentals, etc. are updated on an annual basis by means of the monthly published CPI, that is, valued or measured in units of constant purchasing power during low inflation, in most economies implementing the traditional HCA model. They are, however, thereafter paid on a monthly basis by applying the stable measuring unit assumption; i.e. they are not updated daily as done under Capital Maintenance in Units of Constant Purchasing Power.