ASBJ 03
Abolished
Partial Amendments to Accounting Standard for Retirement Benefits
Partial Amendments to Accounting Standard for Retirement Benefits is part of the Japan GAAP framework.
Abolished Standard (Historical Reference)
ASBJ Statement No. 3 was a transitional partial amendment to Japan's retirement benefits accounting, issued as part of a staged reform process. It has since been abolished (廃止) and its substance fully absorbed into the comprehensive ASBJ Statement No. 26, Accounting Standard for Retirement Benefits – the current, authoritative J-GAAP retirement benefits standard.
This document is retained for historical reference and to explain the staged reform process that led to today's standard.
Current Standard
ASBJ Statement No. 26 – Accounting Standard for Retirement Benefits 1
Conceptual Framework Linkage
A staged, incremental path toward today's comprehensive standard
Japan's retirement benefits accounting REFORM did NOT arrive as a single, comprehensive standard all at once – instead, it was introduced through a SERIES of PARTIAL amendments issued over time (ASBJ Statements No. 3, No. 14, and No. 19), each addressing a SPECIFIC aspect of retirement benefit accounting, BEFORE the ASBJ ultimately consolidated the reform into the SINGLE, comprehensive ASBJ Statement No. 26 – the standard now in force. Statement No. 3 represented an EARLY stage in this INCREMENTAL reform journey.
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Scope – What This Amendment Historically Addressed
Companies sponsoring retirement benefit plans for employees
Like its successor standards, ASBJ Statement No. 3 HISTORICALLY applied to companies sponsoring RETIREMENT BENEFIT plans (both defined benefit pension arrangements and lump-sum retirement allowance plans, a distinctively COMMON Japanese practice) for their employees.
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The Staged Reform Process – Statements No. 3, 14, and 19
Three successive partial amendments, each building on the last
StandardHistorical role
ASBJ Statement No. 3An EARLY partial amendment addressing specific retirement benefit measurement/disclosure matters – NOW ABOLISHED
ASBJ Statement No. 14A FURTHER partial amendment (Part 2) – ALSO now abolished
ASBJ Statement No. 19A THIRD partial amendment (Part 3) – this one has REMAINED referenced (not abolished in the same way), reflecting the staged nature of the reform
This staged, multi-part amendment approach is a genuinely DISTINCTIVE feature of J-GAAP standard-setting history – reflecting a preference for INCREMENTAL reform, allowing preparers TIME to adjust to changes before a fully comprehensive standard was finalised.
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What Statement No. 3 Historically Changed
An early step toward more consistent retirement benefit accounting
As an EARLY-STAGE partial amendment, Statement No. 3 addressed SPECIFIC, NARROWER aspects of retirement benefit accounting current at the time – REFINING particular measurement or disclosure practices WITHOUT yet establishing the FULL, comprehensive framework that ASBJ Statement No. 26 would eventually provide. Its content has since been ENTIRELY absorbed, refined, and superseded by later stages of the reform.
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Why It Was Abolished – Absorption Into ASBJ Statement No. 26
Consolidation into a single, comprehensive standard
Once the ASBJ completed its COMPREHENSIVE reform of retirement benefit accounting – culminating in ASBJ Statement No. 26, Accounting Standard for Retirement Benefits – the EARLIER, PIECEMEAL partial amendments (including Statement No. 3) became REDUNDANT, since their substance was FULLY incorporated (and, where appropriate, further developed) within the new comprehensive standard. The ASBJ therefore ABOLISHED (廃止) Statement No. 3, consistent with GOOD standard-setting practice of avoiding overlapping, superseded guidance remaining formally in force.
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The Current Standard – ASBJ Statement No. 26
Today's authoritative retirement benefits framework
ASBJ Statement No. 26 is the CURRENT, comprehensive J-GAAP retirement benefits standard – addressing recognition and measurement of retirement benefit obligations (退職給付債務), plan assets, actuarial gains/losses, past service cost, and the presentation of net retirement benefit liabilities/assets on the Balance Sheet – broadly analogous in SCOPE to IAS 19 (Employee Benefits) internationally, though developed through Japan's OWN staged reform history rather than as a single comprehensive project from the outset.
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Worked Example – the Historical Reform in Outline
Tracing a company through the staged reform
Example: A company's retirement benefit accounting across the reform period
A Japanese company sponsoring a lump-sum retirement allowance plan applied EARLIER retirement benefit guidance, then Statement No. 3's partial amendment, then Statements No. 14 and No. 19's further amendments, over a period of ongoing standard-setting reform.
TODAY, the SAME company simply applies ASBJ Statement No. 26 in its ENTIRETY – the comprehensive successor standard that has absorbed and superseded the ENTIRE staged reform history, including the NOW-ABOLISHED Statement No. 3 – with NO need to separately reference the earlier partial amendments.
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Disclosure Requirements (Current, Post-Abolition)
What applies today instead
Full compliance with ASBJ Statement No. 26's recognition, measurement, and disclosure requirementsNo separate reference to the now-abolished Statement No. 3 is required or appropriate
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Critical Judgments
Where judgement matters most (historically and today)
HISTORICAL JUDGEMENTS
Correctly sequencing application of the staged partial amendments during the reform period
CURRENT JUDGEMENTS
Actuarial assumptions and measurement judgements now governed entirely by ASBJ Statement No. 26
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Relationship to IAS/IFRS – Then and Now
Convergence-driven reform, mirroring the broader ASBJ-IASB project
The STAGED retirement benefits reform (Statements No. 3, 14, 19, culminating in No. 26) took place LARGELY within the CONTEXT of the ASBJ's BROADER convergence project with the IASB, launched in 2005 – progressively bringing J-GAAP's retirement benefit accounting CLOSER to IAS 19's principles (e.g. recognising net retirement benefit obligations more fully on the Balance Sheet, refining actuarial gain/loss treatment) over SUCCESSIVE stages, rather than through a single, immediate wholesale adoption. This INCREMENTAL convergence PATTERN is itself a notable, recurring feature of how J-GAAP has approached international alignment across MANY topic areas, not just retirement benefits.
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Statement Mapping
Where retirement benefit accounting now lands
EventStatement(s) affectedNotes
Retirement benefit obligation and plan assetsBSGoverned entirely by the current ASBJ Statement No. 26
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Related Standards
Cross-reference map
StandardConnection
ASBJ Statement No. 26Successor, comprehensive standard – the current authoritative J-GAAP retirement benefits framework
ASBJ Statement No. 14 / 19Related staged amendments from the same reform history
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Quick-Reference Glossary
Retirement benefit obligation (退職給付債務)
A company's actuarially determined obligation for employee retirement benefits, now governed comprehensively by ASBJ Statement No. 26.
Abolished (廃止)
The formal ASBJ status indicating a standard's substance has been fully absorbed into a successor standard, with the original no longer separately in force.
Financial statement key (Japan GAAP terminology)
BS Balance Sheet (貸借対照表) P&L Statement of Income / Profit and Loss Statement (損益計算書) Net Assets 純資産の部 SCNA Statement of Changes in Net Assets (株主資本等変動計算書) SCF Statement of Cash Flows (キャッシュ・フロー計算書)