IFRS 17 Insurance Contract Accounting Training Course

Course overview

IFRS 17 changes how insurers measure, recognise and explain insurance contract results. Finance teams must move beyond premium-based reporting to fulfilment cash flows, contractual service margin (CSM), risk adjustment, discounting and service-based profit recognition. The challenge is not only technical interpretation: actuarial, finance, data and reporting teams need controlled hand-offs, reconciliations and journal-entry logic that can withstand audit and management scrutiny. This course addresses the practical accounting decisions behind IFRS 17 reporting, including the differences between the General Measurement Model, Premium Allocation Approach and Variable Fee Approach.

Participants work through the end-to-end accounting mechanics for insurance contracts, from contract-boundary assessment and portfolio grouping to initial measurement, subsequent measurement, loss-component treatment, reinsurance held and presentation in the statement of financial position and profit or loss. They learn to construct simplified fulfilment cash-flow calculations, roll forward the CSM, calculate insurance revenue, analyse changes in estimates, and map actuarial outputs into accounting entries and disclosure schedules. Particular attention is given to the transition choices, audit evidence and reconciliations required alongside IFRS 9 financial-instrument reporting.

The five-day programme combines technical instruction with calculation workshops, insurer case studies and reporting-control exercises. Participants use Excel-based IFRS 17 calculation templates and review illustrative system outputs associated with SAP Financial Products Subledger. They leave with a completed IFRS 17 accounting workbook containing measurement-model selection, CSM and loss-component roll-forwards, journal-entry mappings, a disclosure checklist and a 90-day workplace application plan. This is designed for professionals who need to apply IFRS 17 in financial reporting, controllership, actuarial-finance coordination or assurance work rather than merely describe the standard.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Classify insurance contracts into portfolios, annual cohorts and profitability groups under IFRS 17
• Select the General Measurement Model, Premium Allocation Approach or Variable Fee Approach for defined contract features
• Calculate fulfilment cash flows using expected cash flows, discount rates and risk adjustment inputs
• Build a contractual service margin roll-forward for profitable groups of insurance contracts
• Recognise and reverse loss components for onerous groups using IFRS 17 measurement logic
• Prepare insurance revenue, insurance service expense and finance-income journal-entry mappings
• Reconcile actuarial cash-flow movements to IFRS 17 ledger balances and financial-statement line items
• Produce an IFRS 17 disclosure checklist and transition-impact action plan for a reporting cycle

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Insurance Finance Managers — who own IFRS 17 close, reporting and control processes
• Financial Controllers — who must translate actuarial measurement outputs into auditable accounts
• Actuarial Analysts and Managers — who provide fulfilment cash-flow, discounting and risk-adjustment inputs to finance
• IFRS Reporting Specialists — who prepare insurer financial statements and disclosure notes
• Internal Auditors — who assess IFRS 17 governance, reconciliations and evidence trails
• External Audit and Advisory Professionals — who review IFRS 17 accounting positions and implementation controls

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should understand core IFRS financial-statement concepts, including recognition, measurement, journal entries, profit or loss and balance-sheet presentation. Prior exposure to insurance products, premium income, claims, reserves or actuarial terminology is strongly recommended, as is confidence using Excel for formulas and reconciliations. Familiarity with IFRS 4 is helpful but not essential. Participants do not need to be qualified actuaries, programmers or SAP users, and no prior IFRS 17 implementation experience is required. The course explains calculation mechanics before applying them in worked insurance-contract cases.

Training methodology

Instructor-led technical sessions introduce each IFRS 17 requirement through insurer reporting scenarios, followed by guided Excel calculations and facilitated review of accounting conclusions. Participants work in small groups on contract classification, fulfilment cash-flow measurement, CSM roll-forwards, loss components and journal-entry mapping. Case materials use simplified actuarial assumptions so attention remains on accounting decisions and controls. Each day closes with a structured output that is added to an individual IFRS 17 workbook. On day five, participants convert the workbook into a role-specific 90-day application plan for their reporting, implementation or assurance environment.

Course outline

Day 1: IFRS 17 foundations and contract classification

• IFRS 17 scope and interaction with IFRS 9 and IFRS 15
• Insurance risk assessment and contract identification
• Contract boundary determination for future cash flows
• Portfolio identification and annual cohort requirements
• Grouping profitable, no-significant-risk and onerous contracts
• Measurement model decision tree for GMM, PAA and VFA
• Unit of account, aggregation and level-of-detail implications

Workshop: Participants classify a mixed portfolio of life, property and investment-linked contracts and produce a documented IFRS 17 grouping and measurement-model decision sheet.

Day 2: Initial measurement and the General Measurement Model

• Building expected future cash-flow estimates
• Discount-rate selection and present-value mechanics
• Risk adjustment for non-financial risk
• Fulfilment cash flows and initial recognition date
• Contractual service margin calculation at inception
• Acquisition cash flows and asset recognition
• Onerous-group assessment and immediate loss recognition

Workshop: Participants calculate initial GMM measurement for profitable and onerous contract groups and prepare the supporting opening journal entries.

Day 3: Subsequent measurement, service result and CSM release

• CSM roll-forward structure and experience adjustments
• Coverage-unit determination and CSM allocation
• Changes in future-service versus current-service estimates
• Interest accretion and finance-income presentation
• Loss-component tracking and reversals
• Insurance revenue calculation under IFRS 17
• Insurance service expense and claims-incurred analysis

Workshop: Participants complete a quarterly CSM and loss-component roll-forward, then map the resulting insurance revenue and service expense to profit or loss.

Day 4: PAA, VFA, reinsurance and transition

• Premium Allocation Approach eligibility assessment
• Liability for remaining coverage under PAA
• Liability for incurred claims and discounting requirements
• Variable Fee Approach eligibility and underlying items
• VFA CSM adjustments for changes in variable fee
• Reinsurance contracts held and recovery-of-loss treatment
• Full retrospective, modified retrospective and fair-value transition approaches

Workshop: Participants compare GMM, PAA and VFA outcomes across three product scenarios and prepare a transition-method recommendation with supporting rationale.

Day 5: Reporting, controls and implementation application

• Statement of financial position presentation requirements
• Insurance revenue and insurance finance income disclosure
• IFRS 17 roll-forward and maturity-analysis disclosures
• Actuarial-to-subledger-to-general-ledger reconciliation design
• SAP Financial Products Subledger output review
• Close controls, audit evidence and accounting-policy documentation
• IFRS 17 implementation governance and issue-log management

Workshop: Participants assemble their completed IFRS 17 reporting pack, including reconciliations, disclosure checklist, control points and a 90-day application plan.

Tools & standards covered

IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts, Microsoft Excel, SAP Financial Products Subledger, IFRS 9 Financial Instruments

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions