Provision for Decommissioning : Theory and Reality in Spain

Abstract

The international accounting harmonization has led to the repeal of accounting rules and the adoption of a new accounting model in Spain, the abandonment of the 1990 Plan and the implementation of 2008 Plan, based on the IFRS issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB).This change of model entails, the abolition of the reversion fund concept that occasionally collects future outlays for retirement, dismantling and similar ones. This paper analyzes one of the novelties, singularity and the registration of the costs of dismantling, rehabilitation or withdrawal. The recent Spanish rule ICAC 01/03/2013 develops those regulations. Our purpose of this inquiry is to present global changes affecting the rubric of the property, plant and equipment (PP&E), then focuses on the treatment of the costs of dismantling, discusses the experience of the first year of application contrasting such information with the published one at the level of consolidated financial statements under IFRS and simultaneously explores aspects not solved by current legislation.