The award recognises an outstanding leader who has made significant contributions to the development of the international accountancy profession over a period of years. As Secretary-General of the IASC from 1995 to 2001, Sir Bryan led the completion of a core body of Standards that has subsequently been endorsed by IOSCO and adopted by the European Union. He is widely recognised for his commitment to promoting worldwide convergence of those standards. Click for IFAC Announcement (PDF 79k).

The Committee has also released, as a Public Working Draft, the IAS Explanatory Disclosures and Accounting Policies Taxonomy. Both taxonomies are available on the Internet from the XBRL Organisation Website.

We have reorganised the information on IASPlus about IFRIC's agenda issues: Chronological List and Listing by Issue

Those are expected to be retained until IASB standards are developed.

We have moved our observer's unofficial notes of the discussions at the meeting of the International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee of 25-26 November 2002 to our IFRIC Page.

Topics covered include FASB's and IASB's exposure drafts on stock-based/share-based compensation, SPEs, SOP on accounting for financial instruments by non-profit health-care institutions, IASB's November meeting, and news about the new US Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.

We have posted some new Australia and New Zealand Accounting Alerts.

Comments are due 28 February 2003. The IAASB is proposing to restructure the Auditing and Assurance Handbook to include four separate sections covering:

• Quality control. The documents in this section would be called International Standards on Quality Control (ISQCs). This section would address firm-wide quality control issues while ISAs and ISAEs will address engagement specific quality control matters.
• Audits and reviews of historic financial information. The documents in this section would continue to be called International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) and International Auditing Practice Statements (IAPSs).
• Assurance engagements on other subject matters. The documents in this section would be called International Standards on Assurance Engagements (ISAEs), and in time, if needed, International Assurance Engagement Practice Statements (IAEPSs) could be added.
• Related services. The documents in this section would be called International Standards on Related Services (ISRSs), and over time, if needed, International Related Services Practice Statements (IRSPSs) could be added.

The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group is seeking comments (due by 7 February 2003) on its Draft Letter of Comment on IASB Exposure Draft 2, Share-Based Payment.

The SEC's Division of Corporation Finance issued 28 Q&As; that address issues relating to implementing the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002 (the Sarbanes-Oxley Act).