IFRS 18 for insurers: what changes in IFRS 17 reporting

IFRS 18 Presentation and Disclosure in Financial Statements replaces IAS 1. It applies to annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027, and it applies retrospectively, so the comparative period is restated. For a calendar-year insurer, the 2027 accounts show 2026 on the new basis too.

IFRS 18 changes presentation, not measurement. The IFRS 17 figures themselves (the CSM, the risk adjustment, insurance revenue) are calculated as before. What changes is where they sit and what is disclosed around them.

Three categories in profit or loss

Income and expenses are classified into operating, investing and financing categories, alongside income taxes and discontinued operations. Two points matter most for insurers:

Income and expenses from insurance contracts issued go in the operating category.
For many insurers, investing in assets is a main business activity. Where it is, income and expenses from those investments that would otherwise be investing are classified as operating instead.

Deciding what counts as a main business activity is a judgement, and it drives much of the presentation. It is worth settling early, with the auditor.

New subtotals

IFRS 18 defines required subtotals, including operating profit. Many insurers already present their own subtotals, so the existing face of the income statement needs mapping to the new structure.

Management-defined performance measures

Measures such as an adjusted operating profit, used in public communications, become management-defined performance measures. They are disclosed in a single note, with how each is calculated, why it is useful and a reconciliation to the nearest IFRS subtotal. That note is part of the audited financial statements.

More disaggregation

IFRS 18 adds guidance on grouping and splitting items, and discourages vague labels such as "other". An insurer presenting expenses by function also discloses certain expenses by nature in the notes, for example depreciation, amortisation and employee benefits.

What it means for actuarial and data teams

Map every IFRS 17 line. Insurance revenue, insurance service expense, the reinsurance result and insurance finance income or expense, each to its category and subtotal.
Keep the 2026 detail. Restating comparatives needs 2026 results at the level of detail the new mapping uses. Keep the run inputs, outputs and lineage, not only the published totals.
Check your adjusted measures. If an operating-profit measure is built from actuarial figures, its reconciliation will be audited.
Check endorsement. Confirm the endorsement status of IFRS 18 for your jurisdiction and reporting entity.

Where AutoImpact stands

AutoImpact produces the IFRS 17 insurance lines and the disclosure reconciliations today, and every table downloads as CSV. Each run's inputs and outputs are fingerprinted in a manifest, so a restated comparative can be traced back to the run that produced it. IFRS 18 presentation of the IFRS 17 lines is in the first phase of the roadmap, targeted for Q1 2027.

Sources

This note is general information, correct as at 4 November 2026. It is not legal, accounting or actuarial advice. Check the sources for the current text.