International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are principles-based accounting standards that provide less prescriptive, interpretive and implementation guidance than do some national standards. Thus, considerable judgement in the application of IFRS is often required. We suggest a three-step approach to teaching IFRS judgments (concepts, to principles/rules, to the judgments required in the application of those rules), and provide accounting educators with guidance and resources that will help them create and enhance students' awareness of the importance of making professional judgments in the application of IFRS.

We consider pervasive issues, such as the going concern assumption, materiality and related disclosures, and issues encountered in the application of most IFRSs, such as presentation and disclosure, classification, recognition/de-recognition, and measurement.

We illustrate past judgments with examples from corporate annual reports, regulatory enforcement decisions published by the ESMA, and other sources for classroom use.