BC271A In ED/2013/4, the IASB proposed retrospective application and to permit earlier application of the amendments. The majority of the respondents supported those proposals. Some respondents questioned whether retrospective application was practicable because some calculations might require information that is not readily available. The IASB observed that in current practice, contributions from employees or third parties are generally reduced from service cost without being attributed to periods of service. The proposed amendments are intended to provide relief so that entities can deduct contributions from service cost in the period in which the service is rendered, which was common practice prior to the 2011 amendments to IAS 19. The impact of retrospective application would therefore be minimal in those cases. Consequently, the IASB decided to retain the requirement for retrospective application.

BC271B The amendments to IAS 19 published in 2011 are effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2013. In the IASB's view, the objective of the amendments published in 2013 is to provide relief in the accounting for contributions from employees or third parties and, therefore, the effective date should be set as early as possible, while allowing jurisdictions to have sufficient time to prepare for the new requirements. Consequently, the IASB decided that the effective date of the amendments should be 1 July 2014, with earlier application permitted.