October

IASB posts 'near-final' segments and IFRS 2 drafts

27 Oct 2006

The IASB has posted on its Website near-final drafts of: IFRS 8 Operating Segments; IFRIC X - IFRS 2: Group and Treasury Share Transactions.

These are available to IASB subscribers – click 'Products and Services' then 'Online Services'. The near-final draft on Service Concessions mentioned in our news story of 25 October 2006 is not restricted to subscribers.

2006 model annual reports under A-IFRSs

27 Oct 2006

Deloitte (Australia) has published Consolidated Model Annual Reports for 2006 under Australian equivalents of IFRSs.

Key highlights in this edition include:
  • illustrative AASB 7 disclosures (equivalent to IFRS 7) are included for early adopters of AASB 7. Like IFRS 7, AASB 7 is effective 1 January 2007. Three of the Top 50 ASX listed entities adopted AASB 7 in their first A-IFRS annual report;
  • illustrative disclosures of the impacts of accounting pronouncements that must be applied for the first time. Key changes that may affect you include the revised rules on fair value through profit and loss for financial instruments, financial guarantee contracts, and business combinations involving entities under common control;
  • illustrative wording of the impacts of accounting pronouncements that are not yet effective, to assist you in considering the extent of the impacts of these pronouncements on your organisation; and
  • revamped income tax and tax consolidation disclosures to assist you with the preparation of your organisation's income tax disclosures.
  • expanded illustrative business combination disclosures to cover such matters as where the initial accounting can be only provisionally determined and potential intangible assets not separately recognised from goodwill.
  • example accounting policies appropriate for mining entities.
  • an illustrative Statement of Changes in Equity.
A model half-year report for half-years ending on or after 31 December 2006 will also shortly be made available. You can click below to download the 2006 consolidated model annual report. Of course, you will also find links on our Australia Page.

Consolidated Model Annual Report for 2006 under Australian-IFRSs

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IPSASB issues ED on employee benefits

27 Oct 2006

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) has published an exposure draft (ED 31 Employee Benefits) that proposes requirements by which governments and other public sector entities should account for employee benefits.

ED 31 is based on IAS 19 Employee Benefits.

IPSASB ED 31 addresses the four categories of employee benefits dealt with in IAS 19:

  • Short-term employee benefits;
  • Post-employment benefits;
  • Other long-term employee benefits; and
  • Termination benefits.

In addition, it deals with some issues of specific relevance to the public sector, including:

  • Determining the risk-free discount rate to be applied for discounting obligations arising from post-employment benefits;
  • The treatment of post-employment benefits provided through composite social security programs; and
  • Mechanisms for the orderly implementation of the proposed standard in the public sector.
Comment deadline on ED 31 is 28 February 2007. Click to download:

Update on accounting standards in Taiwan

27 Oct 2006

The Accounting Research and Development Foundation (ARDF) of Taiwan recently sponsored the 2006 International Conference on Accounting Standards in Taipei.

The ARDF, established in 1984, has been designated by the Taiwan Securities and Futures Bureau to develop Taiwanese GAAP. The chairman of the Foundation, Dr Rong-Ruey Duh, made a comprehensive keynote presentation on Convergence with IFRSs: The Experience of Taiwan (PDF 111k). The presentation reviews the process for setting accounting standards in Taiwan, the current state of convergence with IFRSs, the factors affecting convergence, and the outlook in Taiwan. We are pleased to post the presentation with the kind permission of Dr Duh. The presentation is copyright 2006 by the Accounting Research and Development Foundation, Taiwan, all rights reserved, and should not be reproduced without the author's permission.

 

Summary record of ARC 26 September 2006 meeting

26 Oct 2006

The European Commission has posted the summary record of the 26 September 2006 Meeting of the Accounting Regulatory Committee.

Matters discussed included the following:
  • Roundtable for Consistent Application of IFRSs. At the 20 September 2006 Roundtable (PDF 22k) meeting, three matters of 'common concern' were identified.
    • Reassessment of embedded derivatives (broadening of IFRIC 9) – expected to be referred to IFRIC
    • De facto control – to be raised with the IASB
    • Common control transactions – to be raised with the IASB
  • IFRIC working procedures and due process (draft EC comment letter)
  • Equivalence between IFRS and third country GAAP, in particular US GAAP (discussion of Draft Regulation (PDF 34k) and Draft Commission Decision (PDF 36k))
  • Relationship between the IAS Regulation and the 4th and 7th company law Directives (meaning of 'annual accounts in accordance with adopted IASs'). Issues raised included:
    • Which accounting rules apply to separate company financial statements
    • Whether a company preparing both consolidated and individual IFRS financial statements could issue its individual statements before the consolidated
    • Whether listed companies that do not prepare consolidated financial statements because they have no subsidiaries must follow IFRSs
    • How to determine whether an issuer on a regulated market is required to prepare consolidated financial statements, including materiality of subsidiaries
  • IFRIC 10 Interim Financial Reporting and Impairment – endorsement will be considered at the 24 November 2006 ARC meeting
  • Standards Advice Review Group – update on recruitment
  • Project of consolidation and language revision of endorsed IFRSs

SEC Chairman demonstrates benefits of XBRL

25 Oct 2006

In a keynote speech at the 39th Annual Securities Regulation Seminar in Los Angeles, US SEC Chairman Christopher Cox demonstrated how to use three different software packages to download and analyse financial and other data reported to the SEC in XBRL format.

Chairman Cox's speech is titled Giving Investors the Information They Need, In a Form They Can Use (PDF 69k). He demonstrated the XBRL software by using actual XBRL data filed with the SEC by voluntary XBRL reporting companies. The three products are (click for their websites): Around two dozen XBRL products are listed on XBRL International's Website. Chairman Cox said:

This isn't just a dream, it's soon to be reality. And to make sure the dream comes true, the SEC recently committed over $50 million to do what's necessary to give these very capabilities to every investor – from the professional analyst to the amateur stock picker – in the very near future. And by that I mean months, not years.

IASB posts 'near-final' service concessions draft

25 Oct 2006

The IASB has made the Near-final Draft of IFRIC 11 Service Concession Arrangements available on its website.

It is our current understanding that the IASB will invite those constituents who commented on the draft interpretations (D12, D13, and D14) to attend a public meeting in November during the Board meeting week (week of 13 November 2006) to provide comments on the posted draft. The IASB expects to approve the final interpretation later that week. There is no public call for comments on the IASB website. Our Project Page has details of IFRIC's deliberations on service concessions over the past three years. The Deloitte Observer Notes from the Board's October 2006 meeting stated:

IFRIC X Service Concession Arrangements

At its September 2006 meeting the IFRIC decided to present the revised draft text of IFRIC X Service Concession Arrangements to the Board as a final draft and that the Board should be asked for approval to issue the Interpretation (see our Report of This Meeting elsewhere on www.iasplus.com.

The Board briefly discussed the revised draft text without making other than editorial changes to it.

The Board unanimously supported the revised draft. It was decided to post the revised draft on the IASB website and to give constituents an opportunity to comment on it within a short comment period. The Board intends to approve a final Interpretation at its November 2006 meeting.

Reminder about three upcoming comment deadlines

25 Oct 2006

We remind you that the deadlines are approaching for responding to the following comment documents:

Comment document

Deadline

IFRIC Draft Interpretation D19: IAS 19–The Asset Ceiling: Availability of Economic Benefits and Minimum Funding Requirements

31 October 2006

Discussion Paper: Preliminary Views on an improved Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting: The Objective of Financial Reporting and Qualitative Characteristics of Decision-useful Financial Reporting Information

3 November 2006

IFRIC Draft Interpretation D20: Customer Loyalty Programmes

6 November 2006

Japanese plan for convergence toward IFRSs

24 Oct 2006

The Accounting Standards Board of Japan (ASBJ) has released its Project Plan Concerning the Development of Japanese Accounting Standards to explain the status of its initiatives toward convergence with IFRSs.

The plan has been developed, in part, in response to the June 2005 Report to the European Commission from the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) (PDF 1,063k), which identified 26 matters for which 'remedies' should be required if the European Commission decides to continue to allow Japanese companies to trade on European securities markets using financial statements prepared in conformity with Japanese accounting standards. The ASBJ's plan outlines the work planned to be achieved through the end of 2007 and the anticipated convergence status as of the beginning of 2008 for each of the 26 issues identified by CESR. The ASBJ has also released a Table Summarising the Project Plan (PDF 62k) as an attachment to its overall project plan.
Click for full Project Plan (PDF 107k).

Heads Up on PCAOB Q&A and IRS initiative

24 Oct 2006

Deloitte & Touche LLP (United States) has published a Heads Up newsletter summarising the following items:

  •  the PCAOB's recently issued staff questions and answers on auditing the fair value of share options (there's a link to download the Q&A in our news story of 17 October 2006), and
  • the new IRS initiative to resolve uncertain tax positions before entities adopt FASB Interpretation 48 Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes–an interpretation of FASB Statement No. 109. Click to Download the Heads Up Newsletter (PDF 120k).

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