Global Accounting Body Proposes Rule Changes for Libor Phase-Out

Global accounting standards related to financial instruments, insurance, and leases will need to be altered to limit disruption from replacing benchmark interest rates such as Libor, the International Accounting Standards Board proposed.

The board on Thursday published a draft of changes to five accounting standards necessitated by the fact that some existing benchmarks, including the prominent London Interbank Offered Rate, will be replaced as soon as 2021 by new data-based rates. The move away from Libor follows a series of scandals in which banks were found to have misstated their estimated borrowing costs.

Main proposed changes include:

• Company accounts ...