The project, to be conducted in two phases, will be a comprehensive review of the accounting required by
IAS 19 Employee Benefits. The first phase will consider revisions that would achieve significant improvements in the short term, with a view to an interim standard being issued in three or four years' time. As the first step in its due process the IASB intends to publish a discussion paper in 2007. The issues to be included in the first phase of the project are:
- accounting for intermediate risk plans (including cash balance plans), including definition of defined benefit and defined contribution arrangements
- smoothing and deferral mechanisms
- presentation and disclosure
- treatment of settlements and curtailments.
The Working Group will provide a variety of expert perspectives on accounting for post-employment benefits, including those of actuaries, auditors and other experts, and preparers and users of financial statements, and regulators. Nominations for Working Group membership are invited by 17 November 2006. Click for
Press Release (PDF 56k), which has details about the nomination process.