August

Chinese translation of newsletter on rate regulation

14 Aug 2009

Deloitte China has published the Chinese translation of the IAS Plus Update newsletter IASB Proposes Guidance on Rate-regulated Activities:

You will find links to this and many other IFRS materials in Chinese on our China Page.

 

South Africa adopts IFRS for SMEs – first country to do so

14 Aug 2009

At its meeting yesterday, the Accounting Practices Board of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants voted to issue the IFRS for SMEs as a South African Statement of GAAP: IFRS for SMEs for use immediately.

The original text of the IFRS for SMEs was adopted without any change. When an auditor issues an audit report on an entity applying the new South African standard, the audit report will identify the accounting framework as the International Financial Reporting Standard for Small and Medium-sized Entities. All entities that fall within the scope of IFRS for SMEs (ie, entities that are not publicly accountable) can use the new standard. By this action, South Africa has become the first country in the world to adopt the IFRS for SMEs, which was issued by the IASB on 9 July 2009. All companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange are required to use full IFRSs. Click for more information about the IFRS for SMEs.

 

Extractive activities – draft discussion paper

13 Aug 2009

The IASB has posted on its website a working draft of a discussion paper Extractive Activities.

The draft was prepared by a project team comprising staff of the national accounting standard-setters in Australia, Canada, Norway, and South Africa. The paper addresses financial reporting issues associated with exploring for and finding minerals, oil, and natural gas deposits, developing those deposits, and extracting the minerals, oil, and natural gas. The paper notes that an absence of comprehensive IFRS literature on the subject has contributed to a divergence in practice under IFRSs. The paper reviews the issues and presents the recommendations of the project team. It is posted for information only – comments are not requested. The IASB plans to invite comments on the project team's proposals in the first quarter of 2010. The project is not yet on the IASB's active agenda. The IASB has agreed that if it adds the extractive activities project to its agenda, it will regard the discussion paper as the first stage in its due process. In that case, the IASB would publish an exposure draft as the next phase of such a project.

Key proposals in the working draft include

  • Asset recognition. The project team proposes that legal rights, such as exploration rights or extraction rights, should form the basis of the minerals or oil and gas asset. The asset is recognised when the legal rights are acquired. Information obtained from subsequent exploration and evaluation activities and development works undertaken to access the minerals or oil and gas deposit would both be treated as enhancements of the legal rights asset.
  • Measurement. The project team's view is that these assets should be measured at historical cost and that, in addition, detailed disclosure about the entity's minerals or oil and gas assets should be provided to enhance the relevance of the financial statements
  • Unit of account. The project team's view is that the geographical boundary of the unit of account would initially be defined according to the exploration rights held. As exploration, evaluation and development activities take place, the unit of account will progressively contract until it becomes no greater than a single area, or group of contiguous areas, for which the legal rights are held and which is managed separately and would be expected to generate largely independent cash flows.
Here is a link to the Project Page on the IASB's Website where the draft can be downloaded.

 

IASB meeting dates for 2010

13 Aug 2009

Here are the dates of the International Accounting Standards Board meetings in 2010. You can always find these by clicking on Future Meeting Dates under 'IASB Projects and Meetings' in the right side column of this home page.

All are in London unless noted.

IASB

Monday-Friday 18-22 January 2010

IASB

Monday-Friday 15-19 February 2010

Standards Advisory Council

Monday and Tuesday 22-23 February 2010

IASB

Monday-Friday 15-19 March 2010

Joint IASB/FASB Meeting

Monday-Wednesday 22-24 March 2010

IASB

Monday-Friday 19-23 April 2010

IASB

Monday-Friday 17-21 May 2010

IASB

Monday-Friday 14-18 June 2010

Standards Advisory Council

Monday and Tuesday 21-22 June 2010

IASB

Monday-Friday 19-23 July 2010

IASB

Monday-Friday 13-17 September 2010

IASB

Monday-Friday 18-22 October 2010

IASB

Monday-Friday 16-20 November 2010

Standards Advisory Council

Wednesday and Thursday 3-4 November 2010

 

New data on cross-border securities listings

12 Aug 2009

We have updated our Database of Statistics that, we believe, provide clear evidence of the globalisation of the world's capital markets and of the need for global financial reporting standards:

3,100 cross-border listings on 52 securities exhanges globally
  • At 30 June 2009, the 52 securities exchanges that are members of the World Federation of Exchanges have over 46,000 companies listed, of which about 3,100 are foreign (cross-border) listings.Click to Download Data in Excel Spreadsheet Format (XLS 33k).
1,024 non-US companies from 50 jurisdictions were registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission at 31 December 2008

 

 

Proposal to adopt IFRS for SMEs in place of UK/Irish FRSs

12 Aug 2009

The Accounting Standards Board (ASB) has issued a consultation paper Policy Proposal: the Future of UK GAAP, which sets out its proposals for the future reporting requirements for UK and Irish entities.

The Board is proposing a three-tier approach to developing UK and Irish GAAP converged with IFRSs as follows:
  • Tier 1 – publicly accountable entities would apply IFRSs as adopted by the EU.
  • Tier 2 – all other UK entities, except those that elect to apply the Financial Reporting Standard for Smaller Entities (FRSSE), would apply the IFRS for SMEs.
  • Tier 3 – small entities could choose to continue to apply the FRSSE if they do not exceed two or more of the following criteria: turnover £6,500,000; balance sheet total £3,260,000; and average number of employees 50.
Entities in Tier 2 and Tier 3 would have the option of using EU-adopted IFRSs if they wished, and those in Tier 3 would have the option of using the IFRS for SMEs. The ASB has been working with the UK Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) in developing these proposals. The proposals envisage a reporting regime based on public accountability, broadly in line with the IASB's definition in the IFRS for SMEs, which states that entities do have public accountability if they (a) trade their debt or equity instruments in a public market or (b) hold assets in a fiduciary capacity for a broad group of outsiders as one of their primary businesses. The consultation paper explores whether constituents would prefer to retain the current legal definition of public accountability. This would imply, for example, that all large entities are publicly accountable, and so should be required to follow EU adopted IFRSs. The paper also sets out what the Board sees as the impact of its proposals for public-benefit entities.

Announcing the issue of the consultation paper, Ian Mackintosh, Chairman of the ASB, said 'For a number of years, the Board has stated that, in the medium term, there is no case for the use of two different accounting frameworks in the UK. The recent publication by the IASB of its IFRS for SMEs provides the Board with the opportunity to consult on what we see as the future framework for financial reporting by UK and Irish entities. I would urge all interested parties to consider the proposals and let us have their views'.

The ASB is seeking comments on the proposals by 1 February 2010. If the proposal is adopted, the 'change' date is planned for financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2012. Click to Download the Consultation Paper (PDF 492k).

 

Deloitte IFRS publications in Spanish

12 Aug 2009

Deloitte (Colombia) is publishing a series of Spanish language bulletins about the new IFRS for SMEs.

We have now posted Nos 5:
  • Bulletin No. 5 (11 August 2009) covers the required financial statements, accounting policies, changes in estimates, and errors. There is also country-specific discussion of how the IFRS for SMEs will affect accounting in Colombia. Click to Download Bulletin 5 (PDF 247k).
Also, Deloitte (Colombia) has published the Spanish translation of the following IFRS publication: We have many resources in Spanish Here.

 

Update on use of IFRSs in Croatia

12 Aug 2009

We have updated our Croatia Country Page to reflect some changes in the size requirements for large unlisted companies that must use IFRSs, and translations and gazetting of several recent IFRSs including IFRSs 6, 7, and 8 and amendments to IAS 39.

Click to view our Croatia country page.

IAASB staff Q&A on clarified ISAs

11 Aug 2009

To assist auditors worldwide in implementing the clarified International Standards on Auditing (ISAs), the staff of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) has developed a new question-and-answer publication entitled Applying ISAs Proportionately with the Size and Complexity of an Entity.

The publication is relevant in the context of any audit, but will be of particular help to those who audit, or oversee the audits of, small and medium-sized entities (SMEs). Click for:

 

Monitoring Group will assess IFAC reforms

11 Aug 2009

The Monitoring Group that oversees the governance of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) has begun a review of the effectiveness of the reforms to the governance of IFAC that were put in place in 2003. The objective of those reforms was to increase confidence that IFAC's activities are properly responsive to the public interest and will lead to the establishment of high quality standards and practices by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB), the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA), and the International Accounting Education Standards Board (IAESB).

IFAC's Moniroting Group comprises regulatory and international organisations and is chaired by Hans Hoogervoorst, who also chairs the IASC Foundation's Monitoring Board. Click for Announcement of the Review (PDF 12k).

 

Correction list for hyphenation

These words serve as exceptions. Once entered, they are only hyphenated at the specified hyphenation points. Each word should be on a separate line.