The Trustees of the IASC Foundation, under which the IASB operates, will meet in Washington on 26 and 27 October 2006. The agenda of the public portion of the meeting (from 11:15am to 5:00pm on Thursday 26 October) is as follows:

• Opening/Approval of June Minutes
• Review of effectiveness of Trustee oversight
• IASC Foundation position on XBRL
• Report from IASB Chairman
• Report from IFRIC

For more information: see the IASB Website.

Click for Press Release (PDF 50k), which describes the new features. Because of the IASB's changes, we have removed from the IAS Plus home page our links to pages on the old IASB website that had comprehensive lists, with download links, for IASB Update, IFRIC Update, IASB meeting observer notes, IFRIC meeting observer notes, IASB Exposure Drafts, IFRIC Draft Interpretations, IASB Discussion Papers, and IASB Invitations to Comment. The Update newsletters are no longer available without subscription. The observer notes and meeting summaries and some of the comment documents are now available on a project by project basis. Go to the Work Plan Page, click on an individual project, and on that project page you will find links to meeting summaries and observer notes. There is also a page with links to Documents Open to Comment.

The IASB will also hold a joint meeting with the US Financial Accounting Standards Board at FASB's offices in Norwalk, Connecticut USA on Monday and Tuesday, 23 and 24 October 2006. The joint meeting agenda has not yet been announced.

16-20 October 2006, London Monday 16 October 2006 Post-employment Benefits – Intermediate risk plans [Education session with actuarial representatives] Extractive Activities Research Project [Education session] Insurance contracts Tuesday 17 October 2006 Meeting between Representatives from the IASB and EFRAG (morning) Financial Statement Presentation Business Combinations Phase II – Redeliberations of proposed revisions to IFRS 3 Wednesday 18 October 2006 Interest Margin Hedging [Education session with representatives from the European Banking Federation]. Click here for a Description of Interest Margin Hedging discussed by the Board in March 2004. Amendments to IAS 37 Non-financial Liabilities Conceptual Framework Elements of financial statements Planning for Phase B (elements) and Phase D (reporting entity) Accounting Standards for Small and Medium-sized Entities Thursday 19 October 2006 Intangible Assets Research Project IFRIC Issues: IFRIC X Service Concession Arrangements (Drafts: IFRIC D12-D14) - Approval of an Interpretation IFRIC X IFRS 2 - Group and Treasury Share Transactions (Draft: IFRIC D17) - Approval of an Interpretation Amendments to IAS 14 Segment Reporting Financial instruments – IAS 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement - Identification of a portion of an exposure eligible for hedge accounting Revenue Recognition Amendments to IAS 24 Related Party Disclosures Friday 20 October 2006 Annual improvements to IFRSs: Should investment property under construction be within the scope of IAS 40 Investment Property instead of IAS 16 Property, Plant and Equipment? In IAS 17 Leases, should contingent rents relating to operating leases be recognised as incurred or amortised on a straight-line basis? >IFRS 2 Share-based Payment<a> - Exposure Draft IFRS 2 Share-based Payment: Vesting Conditions and Cancellations.

The study analyses the structure of the auditing market and its possible development in the future, describes the existing limitations in the insurance market for international audits, examines the economic needs for limiting auditors' liability, and compares several possible methods for limiting liability. Key conclusions of the study (not necessarily the views of the Commission) are:

• The international market for statutory audits of large and very large companies is highly concentrated and dominated by the Big-4 networks. The likelihood of new entrants into this market is very limited in the coming years. Additionally, under the current circumstances, middle-tier firms are unlikely to become a major alternative if a Big-4 network fails.
• The level of auditor liability insurance available for higher limits has fallen sharply in recent years. The remaining source of funds to face claims may essentially be the income of partners belonging to the same international network. Constantly large claims might therefore put at risk an entire network.
• The failure of a network could lead to difficult consequences for the wider economy like a significant reduction in large company statutory audit capacity possibly creating serious problems for companies whose financial statements need to be audited.
• A limitation on auditor liability would reduce this risk. While there exist a number of variants of statutory audit liability limitation, the diversity of circumstances in terms of both audits and company size is such that it is unlikely that a one-size-fits-all EU-wide approach is the most useful.

The Commission intends to issue a report based on this study before the end of 2006, and to invite comments. Click for:

• (PDF 1,935k, 381 pages)
• (PDF 92k)

The objective is "to provide one-stop access to leading-edge articles, good practice guidance, and tools and techniques for accountants employed in commerce, industry, the public sector, education, and the not-for-profit sector". IFACnet will include information on strategy, budgeting and planning, corporate governance, risk management, and professional development. IFACnet includes shared electronic resources from IFAC and the 13 participating organisations. Expansion is planned for 2007. There is no fee to use IFACnet, although certain search results may identify documents or publications available for purchase. Click for Press Release (PDF 92k).

At its quarterly meeting late last month, the PIOB focused its discussions on key components of its independent oversight program:

• review of nominations for appointment in 2007 to the standard-setting boards for international standards of audit, ethics and education for accountants;
• consideration of the existing due process and working procedures applied by these boards in setting the above international standards; and
• plans to monitor development of work plans and priorities of these boards for the next two years.

Click for:

• Press Release (PDF 33k)
• More Information about PIOB

 

In accounting, for listed companies, the beginning of 2005 saw the introduction of the IAS Regulation and its requirement that around 8000 European listed companies have to prepare their consolidated financial statements using IFRS. Initial studies show that the implementation of IFRS has generally been successful. I am aware that accountants and auditors have done extensive work in order to achieve these results. At the same time, more work needs to be done on consistent application of the standards across Europe. Several parties have a role to play in this area. CESR, the Committee of European Securities Regulators, is playing a leading role: it has created several working groups in order to coordinate enforcement decisions in different jurisdictions. In the interest of transparency, there will also be a public database of decisions taken. Accountants and Auditors can help to improve consistent application, by improved communication among themselves. Commissioner McCreevy also addressed the IASB's project to develop an IFRS for Small and Medium-sized Entities (SMEs). An excerpt from his comments:

I have repeatedly stated that accounting for SMEs must be simplified and that the level of accounting complexity should be aligned with the nature of the activities of these companies. We have to identify SME's real needs and those of their financiers and use them as the basis for deciding on their future accounting requirements. I am aware that this is a politically sensitive issue - so there will be extensive consultation with all stakeholders. We will listen very carefully to the concerns of SMEs before taking any decision. As you know, the IASB intends to publish an exposure draft on accounting standards for SMEs. There will be a period of consultation afterwards. I have made it clear already that only simple, easy-to-apply standards will be acceptable to us. Nobody should assume that the standards will be automatically transposed into European law.

Click for Press Release (PDF 52k) that includes a list of topics discussed.