July

Revised agenda for IFRIC 29 July 2004 meeting

28 Jul 2004

The International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee will hold a one-day meeting on 29 July 2004 at the IASB's offices in London.

The agenda below reflects a revision to the one originally announced by IFRIC, which we had noted on 20 July:

AGENDA OF THE IFRIC MEETING 29 JULY 2004

Web-based technical update on IAS 32 and IAS 39

28 Jul 2004

The Deloitte London IFRS Centre of Excellence is running a monthly series of hour-long Internet-based IFRS technical updates, focusing on the most important international accounting standards and how they will affect UK companies.

The third Webcast was run on Thursday 22 July 2004 and covered certain aspects of IAS 32 Financial Instruments: Disclosure and Presentation and IAS 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement. To access the recording Click Here. The recording of each session will be available on this website for a period of at least 3 to 4 weeks from the date of the presentation. Links to past sessions may be found on our United Kingdom Page.The recording is no longer available online.

Reminder of two approaching comment deadlines

28 Jul 2004

The comment deadlines on the following two IASB exposure drafts are 31 July 2004: Proposed Amendments to IAS 19 Employee Benefits: Actuarial Gains and Losses, Group Plans and Disclosures Proposed Amendments to IFRS 3 Business Combinations: Combinations by Contract Alone or Involving Mutual Entities .

The comment deadlines on the following two IASB exposure drafts are 31 July 2004:

ICAEW guidance on audit implications of IFRSs

28 Jul 2004

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales has published guidance on (PDF 93k) intended to assist auditors in assessing the state of their clients' readiness for the transition to IFRSs and to prepare for the auditing implications.

The guidance warns against complacency that there are not many differences between UK GAAP and IFRSs:

It is easy to make a high-level comparison of UK GAAP and IFRS and conclude that there are few major differences; however there are many important detailed differences, many of which will be discovered only by a thorough analysis of a company's transactions and exposures. Matters that need to be considered include:

  • changes brought by the move to IFRS will mean a major change in the actual format of the accounts;
  • differences in definitions may mean that items previously classified in one way will need to be classified differently;
  • some items that are not recognised under UK GAAP are recognised as assets or liabilities under IFRS, whilst others may cease to be recognised;
  • some items may have to be measured differently in the accounts of an individual subsidiary and in the consolidated accounts;
  • more extensive disclosure requirements will result in greater data capture needs; and
  • some changes in accounting policies may require accounting systems to give different information.
Click for (PDF 36k).

Comment letters to IASB on IAS 39 fair value option

27 Jul 2004

The IASB has Posted on its Website the 81 comment letters it has received on the Exposure Draft of Proposed Amendments to IAS 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement: The Fair Value Option. .

The IASB has Posted on its Website the 81 comment letters it has received on the Exposure Draft of Proposed Amendments to IAS 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement: The Fair Value Option.

EFRAG posts final and draft comment letters

26 Jul 2004

The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has submitted to the IASB its final comments on three IASB proposals and one draft interpretation.

Also, EFRAG has invited comments on its draft comment letters on two additional documents:
Final comment letters to IASB:
Draft comment letters: (download from EFRAG's website www.efrag.org)
  • ED of Amendments to IAS 39: Financial Guarantee Contracts and Credit Insurance (comments due 24 September 2004)
  • IFRIC D9 Employee Benefit Plans with a Promised Return on Contributions or Notional Contributions (comments due 27 August 2004)

 

US SEC begins assessment of the benefits of 'tagged data'

23 Jul 2004

The US Securities and Exchange Commission is assessing the benefits of tagged data and its potential for improving the timeliness and accuracy of financial disclosure and analysis of Commission filings.

The Commission will seek public comment on alternative methods and the costs and benefits associated with tagged data. In addition, the Commission will consider a staff proposal to accept voluntary supplemental filings of financial data using eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL). This voluntary program would enable the Commission staff to further investigate the types of data tagging currently available in the marketplace. The Commission may propose a rule this fall that would, if adopted, establish the voluntary program beginning with the 2004 calendar year-end reporting season.
  • Click for SEC Press Release.
  • Information about XBRL (a system for tagging data) can be found on the XBRL International Website. IASB commercial director Kurt Ramin chairs the XBRL International Steering Committee.
  • An exposure draft dated 15 June 2004 International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) General Purpose Financial Reporting for Profit-Oriented Entities (GP) can be found Here.
  • Other XBRL financial reporting taxonomies can be found Here.
  • The 10th XBRL International Conference, Financial Reporting Goes Global: XBRL and IFRS Working Together, will be held 15-17 November 2004 in Brussels. Click for More Information.
  • The European Commission has granted €1,000,000 to accelerate the development and adoption of XBRL in Europe. Press Release (PDF 110k).

IASB issues ED 7 on financial instruments disclosures

22 Jul 2004

The IASB has issued an exposure draft that would add certain new disclosures about financial instruments to those currently required by IAS 32, would replace the disclosures now required by IAS 30, and would put all of those financial instruments disclosures together in a new standard.

IAS 32 would then deal only with financial instruments presentation matters. ED 7 Financial Instruments: Disclosures would require disclosures in the following areas, among others:

  • Disclosure of the significance of financial instruments for an entity's financial position and performance (this would incorporate many of the requirements previously in IAS 32)
  • Qualitative and quantitative disclosures about exposure to risks arising from financial instruments. The qualitative disclosures describe management's objectives, policies, and processes for managing those risks. The quantitative disclosures provide information about the extent to which the entity is exposed to risk, based on information provided internally to the entity's key management personnel. Together, these disclosures provide an overview of the entity's use of financial instruments and the exposures to risks they create
  • Disclosures about credit risk, including credit enhancements and the fair value of and other information about collateral received
  • Disclosures about interest rate risk, which would include both cash flow interest rate risk and fair value interest rate risk. Sensitivity analyses for interest rate and foreign exchange rate risks would be required
  • Disclosures about market risk, including information about asset quality and the liquidity of the markets in which a financial asset might be disposed.
  • Disclosures about other risks, sometimes called residual value risks, that underlie financial instruments and that are not captured by the other disclosures
  • Details about an entity's own equity; qualitative information about the entity's objectives, policies, and processes for managing capital; whether during the period it complied with any capital targets set by management and any externally imposed capital requirements; and if it has not complied, the consequences of such non-compliance.
ED 7 would delete the current IAS 30 disclosures about contingencies, commitments, and general banking risks.

Click for the IASB Press Release (PDF 31k). ED 7 will be available for public download from www.iasb.org starting 2 August 2004.

Comment deadline is 22 October 2004. The Board expects to issue a final standard in early 2005. It would be mandatory for financial periods beginning on or after 1 January 2007. Early adoption will be encouraged, and therefore that standard could be applied by 2005 first time adopters.

 

Notes from the third day of the July 2004 IASB meeting

22 Jul 2004

The IASB met at its offices in London on 22 July 2004, the third and final day of a three-day Board meeting.

We have combined our notes for all three days in a Separate Page.

New Deloitte publication on internal controls

22 Jul 2004

We have posted a new Deloitte publication, Taking Control: A Guide to Compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

This 43-page book provides step-by-step guidance on implementing a strong system of internal control to meet the requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley section 404. SEC-registered companies that have not yet begun to develop their system of internal control – such as non-accelerated filers and foreign private issuers -- may benefit from a cover-to-cover reading. Accelerated filers, who are likely to be further along with their internal control project because of the Act's earlier effective date for them, may opt to pick and choose cafeteria-style from the material either to measure their progress or to ensure quality control. An appendix contains supplementary information, sample forms, glossary, and reference material. Click to (PDF 1.02mb).

Correction list for hyphenation

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