GERMANY - The recently revised IAS19 standards will have a moderate effect on German listed companies as the standards are "minimally invasive", but the real reform is still to come, according to Towers Watson Germany.
The recently announced changes to the IAS19 standards will have a "moderately negative impact" on the results of companies listed in the German DAX index, the consultancy said.
This assessment echoes one given by Bernd Hackenbroich of PricewaterhouseCoopers in Germany after the presentation of the near final draft earlier this month.
Alfred Gohdes, head of actuarial consulting at Towers Watson Germany, confirmed his calculations made in March on the scraping of the 'corridor' costing DAX companies around €5bn.
Overall, he described the new IAS19 a "minimally invasive" standard compared with the old one, but he pointed out that the recent review was not the major reform for which the industry had been waiting.
"The IASB has said repeatedly that the current IAS19 is only a preliminary standard," he said. "This assessment most likely has not changed since the most recent review."
Towers Watson said it was uncertain when the IASB would start working on Phase 2, which will see a fundamental review of how defined benefit pension plans are valued.
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