Description: Insurance company financial reporting and performance measurement are going through a significant transformation. Insurers are beginning to look at their business based on what many refer to as the “economic value framework.” Under this framework insurance companies determine the economic value of the capital invested in their business and the economic value of earnings to derive a risk-adjusted return on capital. Standard setters, primarily European insurance regulators through Solvency II and the International Accounting Standards Board through IFRS Phase II, propose adopting many of these concepts for solvency and performance reporting.

Description: Insurance company financial reporting and performance measurement are going through a significant transformation. Insurers are beginning to look at their business based on what many refer to as the 'economic value framework.' This paper examines some of the recent changes in financial reporting for insurance contracts and then explores whether sufficient evidence exists to conclude whether a company has created value simply by the sale of an insurance contract [gain at issue], and also reviews the necessary disclosures needed to build market trust of 'next-generation' financial reporting. Specific issues related to the economic view of capital also are examined as well as some of the problems existing economic capital approaches present to the industry. This paper proposes a performance measurement approach that incorporates the market’s view of risk and the level of compensation the market demands to accept that risk.