Accounting Policies, Estimates & Errors: IAS 8 and IPSAS 3 in Practice
How an entity changes its numbers says more than the numbers themselves — IAS 8 and IPSAS 3 are where credibility is kept or lost.
Format
Classroom · Virtual
Upcoming sessions
Pick a session to applyADMISSIONS OPENThe programme
Every set of accounts eventually faces the three situations these standards govern: a policy that must change, an estimate that proves wrong, an error that is discovered. Each has different accounting — retrospective, prospective, restated — and confusing them is one of the most common findings auditors and oversight bodies raise. This programme works the distinctions until they are instinct: policy selection and the hierarchy when no standard applies; changes in estimate handled prospectively without disguising errors as estimates; prior-period errors corrected and disclosed properly. IAS 8 for corporate reporters and IPSAS 3 for public-sector entities, taught side by side with worked restatements.
What you will do
Who attends
Financial reporting and consolidation teams; public-sector accountants under IPSAS; auditors and audit committee support; finance staff preparing for oversight review.
Programme agenda
Built for the decisions no textbook prepares you for
I.Policies
- Selecting policies: the hierarchy when no standard speaks
- Voluntary changes: the reliability-and-relevance test applied
- Retrospective application and its impracticability escape, used honestly
II.Estimates
- Changes in estimate: prospective treatment and its boundaries
- Estimate or error? The distinction that decides the restatement
- Disclosure: the nature and amount, stated without burying
III.Errors
- Material prior-period errors: restatement mechanics, line by line
- The third balance sheet and comparative disclosures
- IPSAS 3 in the public sector: same logic, different accountability
Frequently asked
What is the difference between a policy change, an estimate revision and an error?
Each has different accounting: policy changes are generally applied retrospectively, changes in estimate prospectively, and material prior-period errors are corrected by restatement with full disclosure. Confusing the three is one of the most common findings auditors and oversight bodies raise — the programme works the distinctions until they are instinct, with worked restatements.
Does the course cover both corporate IFRS reporters and the public sector?
Yes. IAS 8 for corporate reporters and IPSAS 3 for public-sector entities are taught side by side — the same logic, a different accountability. The pairing serves financial reporting and consolidation teams, public-sector accountants under IPSAS, auditors, and finance staff preparing for oversight review.
Is this programme a substitute for accounting advice, and is it available in French?
It is professional training, not accounting or legal advice — positions on specific transactions remain matters for your advisers and auditors. BIZENIUS delivers the programme in English and French, in-house editions can be tailored to your reporting framework, sessions run on a rolling calendar with dates confirmed on request, and fees are provided on enquiry.
Who teaches this
Practitioners, not presenters.
Led by practitioners who hold, or have held, the seats this programme prepares you for: group treasurers and heads of asset–liability management, chief risk officers, heads of credit and capital management, and former central-bank supervisors who examined the very frameworks they now teach. Between cohorts the same people advise banks on those frameworks, so what you learn is what is being defended in front of boards and regulators today.
What the bench brings
- IFRS 9 impairment and expected credit loss models
- Financial-instrument accounting and hedge accounting
- IFRS, US GAAP and public-sector standards
- Audit standards and financial control
- Budgeting, forecasting and scenario planning
- Regulatory review of accounting under Basel
Where they have practised
Current and former practitioners — people who hold the seat today alongside those who have held it.
Sectors: Banking & financial services · Professional services · Insurance · Technology & fintech
Regions: Africa · the Middle East · Europe · Asia · the Americas
How they teach
- Live case studies from real institutions
- Worked exercises on realistic bank data
- Regulator-style challenge sessions
- Group problem-solving on realistic institutional cases
- Knowledge checks and a personal action plan
Cohorts are kept small so every exercise is worked on the participants’ own situations — in person or live virtual.
The faculty profile for your cohort is sent with the full agenda and the next dates when you enquire.Request brochure →
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In their words
Knowledge transfer, emphasised throughout
“We worked with BIZENIUS for our Fresh Graduates Programme — they are simply amazing. Knowledge transfer and practical learning were emphasised throughout.”
Kuwait Investment Authority
From the Mandate Record
Mandate № 01 · Africa
The training programme that became national regulation
What the team mastered, the regulator wrote into the rulebook.
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The Capability Arc™
Fix it · Advisory
Advisory & Consultancy
A senior bench across risk, treasury and regulation.
Learning is one point on the Capability Arc. Many institutions pair this programme with the advisory engagement — and automate what the framework demands.
Teams from these institutions train with BIZENIUS
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Take the brochure with you.
One request — the full agenda, the faculty and the next cohort dates, sent personally by the admissions team.