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SIC 32 Intangible Assets – Website Costs

SIC 32 addresses the appropriate accounting treatment for costs at each stage of the development of a website.

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Registration is required to access the free version of the Issued Standards. This version does not include additional documents that accompany the full standards (such as illustrative examples, implementation guidance and basis for conclusions).

Summary

SIC 32 concludes that an entity’s own web site that arises from development and is for internal or external access is an internally generated intangible asset that is subject to the requirements of IAS 38.

The interpretation identifies four stages of the development of a website and clarifies the accounting treatment of costs at each stage:

  • Planning costs should be expensed as incurred.
  • Subject to certain conditions, costs associated with the application and infrastructure development stage should be capitalised as an intangible asset.
  • Content development costs should be expensed as incurred.
  • Operating costs should be expensed as incurred.

Recent amendments

All amendments issued up to and including the publication date of 1 January 2023 are included within the IFRS Foundation’s latest version of the issued interpretation: 2023 Issued Standards – SIC 32. Issued amendments may, therefore, have a mandatory effective date that is later than 1 January 2023 – see below for details.

Any amendments issued after 1 January 2023 will not be included in the IFRS Foundation’s 2023 Issued Standards but will be listed below and identified as such.

See the Corporate Reporting Faculty’s annual IFRS factsheets for a more detailed discussion of recent IFRS amendments.

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