• IASB developments in lease accounting, revenue recognition and insurance contracts
• Possible relief for entities affected by the NZ Budget 2010 removal of tax depreciation on buildings (see our earlier story)
• Other topics, including proposals to harmonise Australian and New Zealand equivalents of IFRS (see our earlier story) and the NZ Securities Commission review of corporate governance disclosures by selected issuers.

Click to download the Accounting Alert (PDF 237k). Past editions of the New Zealand Accounting Alerts are available here.

The Basis for Conclusions states:

IFRS 1 First-time Adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards requires a first-time adopter to restate past derecognition transactions that occurred after 1 January 2004. This requirement was included in IFRS 1 as a result of the revision to IAS 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement in 2003, to place entities then adopting IFRSs for the first time in the same position as existing IFRS users at that time. As time passes, the fixed transition date of 1 January 2004 becomes more remote and increasingly less relevant to the financial reports of additional jurisdictions that will adopt IFRSs.

The exposure draft Removal of Fixed Dates for First-time Adopters is open for comment until 27 October 2010. It can be accessed via the IASB's website. The IASB's press release is available here (PDF 98k). Our related project page offers a summary of the discussions leading up to the publishing of the exposure draft.

The draft Interpretation considers the following questions:

• (a) Is the definition of an asset met?
• (b) When should the stripping campaign component be recognised?
• (c) How should the stripping campaign component be measured initially?
• (d) How should the stripping campaign component be measured subsequently?

The IFRS Interpretations Committee has reached the conclusion that costs associated with a stripping campaign' should be accounted for as an additional component of an existing asset, and that this component should be written down over the reserves that directly benefit from the campaign.

DI/2010/1 Stripping Costs in the Production Phase of a Surface Mine is open for comment until 30 November 2010. It can be accessed via the IASB's website. The IASB's press release is available here (PDF 35k). Our related project page offers a summary of the discussions leading up to the publishing of the draft Interpretation.

• Proposed Accounting Standards Update – Health Care Entities (Topic 954): Accounting for Legal Costs Associated with Medical Malpractice and Similar Claims (a consensus of the FASB Emerging Issues Task Force) (link to FASB website)
• Proposed Accounting Standards Update – Other Expenses (Topic 720): Fees Paid to the Federal Government by Pharmaceutical Manufacturers (a consensus of the FASB Emerging Issues Task Force) (link to FASB website)

More information about the proposals can be found in EITF Snapshot (PDF 130k), which summarises the 29 July 2010 EITF meeting.

The FASB previously operated with seven board members from its inception in 1973 until 2008. The transition to a seven-member board will occur as soon as the process to recruit and evaluate candidates is complete, which the FAF expects to occur in early 2011.

Chairman Jack Brennan, FAF Chairman said:

Click here to go to the FAF press release (link to the FAF website).

The handbook can be downloaded free of charge in PDF format from IFAC's Publications and Resources site. Printed copies can also be ordered. The IFAC press release announcing the publication of the handbook is available here (link to IFAC website).

• Versicherungsbilanzierung 12: Der Beginn einer neuen Zeitrechnung (PDF 408k), translation of UK Issue 17: The start of a new accounting era (PDF 148k)

Click for the Japanese translation of the July 2010 IFRIC Review. Here is the English version (PDF 84k).

• IFRS in Focus Newsletter – IASB issues Exposure Draft on Lease Accounting (PDF 128k)
• Past editions of IFRS in Focus
• Our Leases project page