Consolidated Annual Report 2015

23 BARBADOS PUBLIC WORKERS’ CO-OPERATIVE CREDIT UNION LIMITED CONSOLIDATED ANNUAL REPORT 2015 BARBADOS PUBLIC WORKERS' CO-OPERATIVE CREDIT UNION LIMITED Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements For the year ended March 31, 2015 (Expressed in Barbados dollars) 10 2. Accounting Policies...(continued) 2.2 Significant accounting judgments, estimates and assumptions The preparation of the consolidated financial statements in conformity with IFRS requires management to make judgments, estimates and assumptions that affect the application of accounting policies and the amounts reported in the financial statements and accompanying notes. Actual amounts may differ from these estimates. Estimates and judgments are continually evaluated and are based on historical experience and other factors, including expectations of future events that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimates are revised and in any future periods affected. The estimates and judgments that have a significant risk of causing material adjustment to the carrying amount of assets and liabilities within the next financial year are discussed below. Measurement of fair values A number of the Groupʼs accounting policies and disclosures require the measurement of fair values, for both financial and non-financial assets and liabilities. The Group has an established control framework with respect to the measurement of fair values. This includes the services of a professional valuation team that has overall responsibility for overseeing all significant fair value measurements, including Level 3 fair values. This team reports directly to the Credit Risk Manager. They also review market estimates where assets and liabilities are traded in active markets. Significant valuation issues are reported to the Asset Liability Committee (ALCO) which has oversight of the Groupʼs investment policy. This Committee meets quarterly to review any challenges as it relates to the carrying value of the Groupʼs assets and liabilities. When measuring the fair value of an asset or a liability, the Group uses market observable data as far as possible. Fair values are categorised into different levels in a fair value hierarchy based on the inputs used in the valuation techniques as disclosed in Note 26. If the inputs used to measure the fair value of an asset or a liability might be categorised in different levels of the fair value hierarchy, then the fair value measurement is categorised in its entirety in the same level of the fair value hierarchy as the lowest level input that is significant to the entire measurement. The Group recognises transfers between levels of the fair value hierarchy at the end of the reporting period during which the change has occurred.