The UK Endorsement Board (UKEB) decides whether new and amended IFRS Accounting Standards issued by the International Accounting Standards Board become part of UK adopted international accounting standards. A standard can be adopted only if it meets statutory tests on true and fair view, the long term public good and information quality. Until the UKEB adopts a standard, it is not part of the UK framework that IAS accounts must follow.

Why does the UK need its own endorsement body?

Companies that prepare IAS accounts in the UK must use UK adopted international accounting standards, defined in section 474(1) of the Companies Act 2006 as the standards adopted for use in the UK under Chapter 2 or 3 of Part 2 of the International Accounting Standards and European Public Limited Liability Company (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (SI 2019/685). Regulation 4 of those Regulations set the starting point: on IP completion day the UK adopted the standards in Commission Regulation (EC) No 1126/2008 as it stood immediately beforehand. GOV.UK explains that at the end of the transition period UK adopted standards consisted of all those already adopted in the EU, and that new or amended IASB standards adopted by the UKEB are added to that set.

The IASB writes the standards, but it has no power to make them law in the UK. The endorsement step is what turns an IASB publication into something a UK company’s IAS accounts must, or may, apply. That affects groups required to use IFRS under section 403(1), companies that choose IFRS under sections 395 and 403(2), and indirectly subsidiaries using FRS 101, which applies the recognition and measurement rules of adopted IFRS. See when UK companies must use IFRS and FRS 101.

Where do the UKEB’s powers come from?

Regulation 5 of SI 2019/685 makes the Secretary of State responsible for adopting international accounting standards for UK use and for contributing to a single set of global standards, and regulation 6 gives the power to adopt. Regulation 2 of the International Accounting Standards (Delegation of Functions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2021 (SI 2021/609) then designates the UKEB to exercise the Secretary of State’s functions under Chapter 3 of Part 2, except the power under regulation 7(3) to amend the public good criteria and the duty under regulation 12 to report to Parliament.

The FRC reported that the Secretary of State delegated these statutory powers to the UKEB on 21 May 2021, after legislation to establish it was passed in April 2021. GOV.UK describes the UKEB as directly accountable to the Secretary of State for how it performs its statutory functions and accountable to the FRC Board for its governance and due process. The UKEB does not set UK GAAP; FRS 102 and the other UK and Ireland standards remain the FRC’s.

What tests must a new standard pass?

Regulation 7(1) allows adoption only if, in relation to the form of the standard to be adopted:

  1. it is not contrary to the principle that an undertaking’s accounts, and consolidated accounts, must give a true and fair view;
  2. its use is likely to be conducive to the long term public good in the UK; and
  3. it meets the criteria of understandability, relevance, reliability and comparability required of information needed for economic decisions and for assessing management’s stewardship.

Regulation 7(2) lists what must be considered for the public good test: whether the standard is likely to improve the quality of financial reporting, its likely costs and benefits, and whether it is likely to have an adverse effect on the UK economy, including on economic growth.

How does a standard move through the process?

In outline, the steps are:

  1. Influence. The UKEB contributes UK views while the IASB develops the standard, which reflects the duty in regulation 5 to contribute to a single set of global standards.
  2. Draft assessment and consultation. Regulation 8 requires consultation with people representative of users and preparers of accounts before adoption. For IFRS 18, the UKEB published a draft endorsement criteria assessment for comment on 9 July 2025, testing the standard against each statutory criterion, and ICAEW responded on 6 October 2025 supporting endorsement.
  3. Decision. The standard may be adopted in whole. In exceptional circumstances regulation 6(3) allows adoption in part, if the rejected parts are severable, and regulation 6(4) allows an option in a standard to be extended to more undertakings.
  4. Publication. Regulation 9 requires the final decision to be published with reasons, and an adopted standard’s wording, together with the financial years for which it must be used, to be published within 3 working days. A consolidated text of UK adopted standards must be kept up to date.
  5. Review. Under regulation 11, where adoption is likely to cause a significant change in accounting practice, a review of its impact must be published no later than 5 years after the standard takes effect.

What has the UKEB adopted so far?

The FRC described IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts as the first major standard adopted by the UKEB, in May 2022, effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2023. An ICAEW article published in August 2026 records three full new standards adopted to date: IFRS 17, IFRS 18 Presentation and Disclosure in Financial Statements and IFRS 19 Subsidiaries without Public Accountability, with IFRS 18 and IFRS 19 mandatory from 1 January 2027. The same article notes that Paul Lee succeeded Pauline Wallace as chair in September 2025. The UKEB also considers smaller amendments to existing standards. The detail of IFRS 18 is in IFRS 18 presentation and disclosure.

What does this mean for a UK company preparing IFRS accounts?

The practical point is that an IASB effective date is not the same thing as UK adoption. Before applying a new or amended standard, or relying on early application, the finance team should confirm that it has been adopted for UK use and for which financial years. Accounts prepared under UK adopted standards should describe the framework that way, rather than simply as IFRS. Where a UK group reports in other jurisdictions too, it may need to check endorsement status in each.

Illustration only. A listed UK group with a 31 December year end is planning its 2027 accounts. IFRS 18 is effective for IASB purposes for periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027 and has been adopted in the UK, so the group applies it in its UK adopted IFRS accounts for 2027. If a future amendment had an IASB effective date but no UK adoption decision by the time the accounts were approved, the group would need to consider whether it could apply it at all under the UK framework, and disclose the position.

Companies adopting IFRS for the first time face the same check, because IFRS 1 requires the standards effective at the end of the first IFRS reporting period to be applied throughout; see adopting IFRS for the first time.

What do people commonly get wrong?

  • Assuming EU endorsement decisions still apply to UK companies. Since the end of the transition period only UK adoption counts for UK IAS accounts.
  • Thinking the UKEB writes accounting standards. It adopts IASB standards and influences them; it does not author FRS 102.
  • Forgetting that FRS 101 users are affected, because FRS 101 builds on adopted IFRS.
  • Describing accounts as complying with IFRS as issued by the IASB without checking that this is true as well as compliance with UK adopted standards.

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Reviewed by Christine Anderson, Broker, Solar Protect. Last reviewed 19 October 2026. Part of Accountapedia, the Solar Protect guide to UK tax and accounting. This page is general information, not personalised advice.