Short answer
The basic rule of SKK 10 is brief. A grant with no performance conditions is recognized as income when it is received. A grant with performance conditions is recognized as income only when those conditions are met, and until then it remains a liability. The asset acquired with the grant is recognized in full on the balance sheet, without being reduced by the grant amount.
| Current version | SKK 10 (2023), for periods beginning on or after January 1, 2025 |
| New title | Government grants and other forms of assistance |
| Unconditional performance grant | Income when it is received or realized, paragraph 9(a) |
| Grant with performance conditions | Applicable only when the conditions are met, paragraph 9(b) |
| Until the conditions are met | Remains an obligation on the balance sheet, paragraph 9(c) |
| Measurement | Fair value of an asset received or to be received, paragraph 10 |
| Asset purchased with a grant | Known in full, like any other asset of the same kind, paragraph 12. |
| Tax incentives | Outside this standard. Treated in SKK 11, paragraph 6(b). |
Verified on November 8, 2026 by Andi Haxhillari, Certified Accountant. Compared with IFRS 10 (2023), paragraphs 1 to 16, the version effective January 1, 2025, and with the November 2015 version attached below.
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The applicable version today is SKK 10, updated in 2023. It applies to financial statements covering accounting periods beginning on or after January 1, 2025, and is applied prospectively. This is specified in paragraph 15 of the standard itself.
Prospective means that prior periods are not recalculated. The 2024 statements remain as prepared under the previous variant.
Two changes you should know about, because they're not cosmetic.
The first change is the title. The November 2015 version was called “Grants and Other Forms of Assistance.” The 2023 version is called “Government Grants and Other Forms of Assistance.”.
The second change is the scope of application. The old version, in paragraph 5, applied the rules to grants received from governmental and non-governmental bodies. The version in force refers to grants given by governmental bodies that are not shareholders in the economic unit. The same narrowing is also evident in the definitions of paragraph 7.
The PDF attached below is still the November 2015 version. We're keeping it because it was the version in effect until the end of 2024 and serves for comparison, but the text applicable today is the 2023 version.
SKK 10 sets out the principles for recognizing, measuring, and subsequently assessing government grants and other forms of assistance, as well as the disclosures required in the financial statements. This is the content of paragraph 1.
The standard is adopted by the National Accounting Council and promulgated by the minister responsible for finance. It is designed to be comparable to Section 24 of the International Financial Reporting Standard for Small and Medium-sized Entities, published in July 2015.
As with any national standard, it does not apply to immaterial items. The definition of materiality is taken from paragraphs 64 through 68 of IFRS 1.
The standard applies to every economic unit that has received a grant or any other form of assistance when preparing financial statements in accordance with the National Accounting Standards.
A clear condition arises from paragraph 5. The grantor must not be a shareholder of the entity. If the money comes from a partner or shareholder, it is not a grant. It is a capital contribution and is treated entirely differently.
Micro-entities apply SRC 15, which is a standalone standard. When SRC 15 does not prescribe treatment for a material transaction, it permits the use of explanations from other enhanced national standards, and for grants this leads to SRC 10.
Paragraph 6 states it plainly. The standard does not address two things.
The first is the accounting treatment for the party providing the assistance. This standard is written for the recipient, not the provider.
The second are tax incentives. Tax exemptions, investment tax credits, accelerated depreciation, and reduced corporate income tax rates are not grants. They are addressed in SKK 11.
This is the distinction that is most often confused. A reduced tax rate is not recorded as grant income. It simply lowers the period's tax expense.
The standard carefully distinguishes between paragraphs 7 and 8, and the difference has direct practical consequences.
Aid is an action by a government entity aimed at providing an economic benefit to a unit or group of units that meet certain criteria. Examples given by the standard itself include free technical or marketing advice, guarantees, and loans with zero or very low interest rates.
The key point is that assistance cannot be assigned a reasonable value. Therefore, it is not recorded in figures. It is described in the explanatory notes.
Indirect trade-related measures that broadly affect trade, such as building infrastructure in a developing area or providing facilitative conditions to an entire community indiscriminately, are not assistance.
A grant is assistance provided by a government agency in the form of a transfer of resources or assets to an economic unit, in exchange for conditions related to its activity.
Paragraph 8 explains why they are separated. Grants differ from other forms of assistance because their monetary value can be determined with relative accuracy and can be distinguished from the entity's ordinary commercial transactions.
So the grant is entered into the account with a numeric code. The aid is entered into the notes with a descriptive description.
All the recognition is contained in paragraph 9, and it has only three letters.
Paragraph (a). A grant that does not impose specified performance conditions for the future is recognized as income when it is collected or when it is received.
Letter (b). A grant that imposes specified performance conditions is recognized as income only when those conditions are met.
Letter (c). Grants received before the revenue recognition criterion is met are recognized as a liability.
Notice what's not here. There is no separation between asset-related grants and income-related grants. There are no deferred revenues that are released gradually in parallel with depreciation. SKK 10 has a single model, that of the performance condition.
Whoever spreads the grant over several years is applying a logic from a different standard, not this one.
Paragraph 10 provides a single rule. The grant is measured at the fair value of the asset received or to be received.
When the grant is in cash, the fair value is the amount itself. When the grant is in kind, for example a donated device, the fair value of that device is measured.
Paragraph 11 addresses sham loans. A loan that the lender agrees to forgive contingent on certain conditions is treated as a grant when there is reasonable and adequate assurance that the entity will satisfy those conditions.
This is the rule that is most frequently violated in practice. Paragraph 12 states that assets received or purchased through grants are recognized in the statement of financial position in the same manner as other assets of the same type.
Therefore, the grant is not deducted from the activity's cost. A machine purchased for 2,800,000 lek with a grant of 2,000,000 lek is recorded on the balance sheet at 2,800,000 lek, not at 800,000 lek. Depreciation is calculated on the full cost.
Paragraph 13 shows where the effects appear in the statement of performance. Revenues and expenses related to grants are recognized under the “Other operating revenues” and “Other operating expenses” line items, or as separate line items.
SKK 10 does not contain any numerical examples. The following example was constructed by us with rounded figures, solely to demonstrate how the rule works.
A plant collection and drying facility receives a grant of 2,000,000 lek from a state development agency, to be cashed on March 1, 2026. The condition is that the business must maintain at least five employees until February 28, 2028.
This is a specified performance condition for the future. Therefore, in 2026 the grant does not enter revenues at all. It is recorded as a liability, 2,000,000 lekë, pursuant to paragraph 9(c).
With that money, a drying line costing 2,800,000 lek is purchased, put into operation on April 1, 2026, with a useful life of ten years and linear depreciation. The asset is recognized in full at 2,800,000 lek. Annual depreciation is 280,000 lek, and for the nine months of 2026 it is 210,000 lek.
The 2026 result is charged with 210,000 lek in depreciation expense and receives no grant revenue. The same model applies to 2027, with an expense of 280,000 lek.
On February 28, 2028, the condition is met. Then the entire grant, 2,000,000 lekë, is transferred to the 2028 income under the “Other operating income” line. The year 2028 also records 280,000 lek amortization.
The net effect over three years is as follows: Year 2026 minus 210,000 lek. Year 2027 minus 280,000 lek. Year 2028 plus 1,720,000 lek.
This imbalance between years is not a mistake. It is precisely what paragraph 9 requires. Whoever distributes the 200,000-lek-per-year grant over ten years is artificially equalizing the result and departing from the standard.
If it were the same grant with no performance conditions—for example, 500,000 lek to cover costs already incurred—all of it would be included in the year's income upon receipt, according to paragraph 9(a).
Paragraph 14 requires three things, and the audit verifies all three when applicable.
The first is the nature and amount of government grants recognized in the financial statements.
The second are the unmet conditions and contingent obligations related to grants that have not yet been recognized as income. This is the point most often missing.
The third is a description of other forms of government assistance from which the unit has directly benefited. This includes assistance that cannot be quantified, such as guarantees or zero-interest loans.
The first mistake is allocating the grant over the life of the asset. The grant is treated as deferred income and released each year in proportion to depreciation. This does not exist in SKK 10.
The second mistake is deducting the grant from the activity cost. Paragraph 12 explicitly prohibits it.
The third mistake is recognizing it immediately as income from a grant with conditions not yet met. Until then, it is an obligation, not income.
The fourth mistake is treating a contribution from a partner or shareholder as a grant. Paragraph 5 excludes this case.
The fifth mistake is blank notes. The unfulfilled conditions in paragraph 14(b) are precisely the information the reader needs, because they show how much of that amount might be demanded later.
The current version of paragraph 9(a) reads “when it has been realized or when it is realized.” The second word broadens the rule compared to the old version, which spoke only of realization. If the right is determined and unconditional, recognition does not necessarily await payment.
No. The asset is recognized in its entirety, and depreciation is calculated on its full cost. This follows from paragraph 12.
No. Tax incentives are expressly excluded by paragraph 6(b) and are dealt with in SKK 11. The forgiveness of a loan by a lender is something else, and it is addressed by paragraph 11.
It is assistance, not a grant. Paragraph 7 gives it as an example of assistance, and assistance cannot be assigned a reasonable value. Therefore, it is not recorded numerically but described in the notes in accordance with paragraph 14(c).
Care must be taken here. The November 2015 version explicitly mentioned non-governmental organizations. The current 2023 version refers to governmental entities. For funds that come directly from a non-governmental organization, the treatment must be verified with the National Accounting Council before the financial statements are closed.
The microentity applies SIK 15. When SIK 15 does not prescribe treatment for a material transaction, it permits the use of explanations from other enhanced national standards, and for grants this leads to SIK 10.
No. Paragraph 15 states that the implementation is prospective. Prior periods are not affected.
Under the heading “Other operating income,” or as a separate line item if the amount merits its own line. This is the solution to paragraph 13.
We read the text of the 2023 version from the National Accounting Council's website. The PDF attached below remains the November 2015 version because it is the file in our library. When quoting a paragraph verbatim for an audit file or for a dispute, refer to the official 2023 text on the Council's website.
The full wording of the introductory sentence of paragraph 5 in the new version was not clear in our reading. Therefore, we left the question about non-governmental donors open above, rather than closing it with an answer we have not verified.
SSK 10 “Government Grants and Other Forms of Assistance,” updated in 2023, paragraphs 1 through 16. Effective date January 1, 2025, with prospective application under paragraph 15.
The standard itself refers to the “accounting law” without citing its number. The law in force is Law No. 25/2018 “On Accounting and Financial Statements,” as amended by Law No. 87/2026. We provide this number from the legal source, not from the standard.
For tax incentives see IFRS 11. For materiality see paragraphs 64 to 68 of IFRS 1. For long-term intangible assets acquired with a government grant see paragraph 58 of IFRS 5.
The following document is the November 2015 version, the one in our library and in effect until the end of 2024. The version currently in force is the updated 2023 version, published by the National Council of Accountants.
Source of the official text: National Council of Accountancy, standards effective January 1, 2025.