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.
Share this programme
Know the right person for this seat?Nominate a colleague →
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.
Open the dossier →
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
Related programmes
The Standards Update: Recent IFRS, IAS & IPSAS Changes Applied
The annual working session on what changed — new and amended standards, interpretations and effective dates, worked through on realistic figures rather than summarised.
View programmeTechnology in Financial Reporting: Automation, Data & Standards Implementation
Digitalising the close without losing control — reporting automation, data quality, digital filing formats and the technology side of implementing new standards.
View programmeInternational Financial Reporting Standards
Practical working knowledge of IFRS for preparers and analysts — the recurring technical issues, the judgement calls and the updates that keep moving the standards.
View programmeBanking & Finance
Take the brochure with you.
One request — the full agenda, the faculty and the next cohort dates, sent personally by the admissions team.