• New appointments: Jean Blascos (France), Jianshen Chen (China), Merran Kelsall (Australia)
• Renewed appointments: John Archambault (United States), Jon Grant (United Kingdom), Caithlin McCabe (Australia).

In addition, Diana Hillier was reappointed as deputy chair of the IAASB. The appointments were recommended by the IFAC Board and are effective January 1, 2011. Click for press release (link to IFAC website).

We've posted Deloitte observer notes from the topics discussed on day five of the meeting. The topics discussed were as follows (click through for direct access to the notes for that particular topic):

Friday, 17 December 2010 (IASB only)

• Fair value measurement
  • IAS 19 plan assets measured at fair value
  • IAS 36 asset impairments
  • Next steps
• Financial instruments - Impairment
  • Confirmation of previous decisions
  • Loan commitments and guarantees
  • Presentation and disclosures
  • Next steps
• IFRS Advisory Council update

Click here to go to the preliminary and unofficial Notes Taken by Deloitte Observers for the entire meeting.

Although the results may reflect a higher degree of interest in sustainability among respondents who opted to participate in the survey (and so may not necessarily reflect the entire population), the survey is of interest as the global financial community pushes towards more integrated reporting. Key findings include:

• Although compliance with regulatory requirements still remains the most common driver of business sustainability, profitability and other strategic factors are also significant
• Large companies have more robust sustainability capabilities than small companies
• Contributions by an entity's finance function to sustainability programs are highly valued, yet underdeveloped
• UK based organisations appear to be ahead in implementing sustainability practices and finance function involvement compared to their North American counterparts.

Click for press release (link to CICA website). The report is available at www.cica.ca/sustainability.

CIMA, AICPA and CICA are all founding members of the Accounting Bodies Network of the Prince's Accounting for Sustainability (A4S) Project, which is meeting in London. The Princes of Wales' speech to the meeting is available here. An excerpt:

"The new integrated reporting model which the IIRC [International Integrated Reporting Committee] is helping to develop will address each of these issues — the failure to value and price our natural capital, the narrowness and retrospective emphasis of most accounting information and our disproportionate focus on the short-term. ...my A4S Project's main achievement in 2010 was helping to establish the IIRC. And I very much hope that one of its main achievements in 2011 will be working out how we can better value natural capital. As soon as possible we have to start putting a price on the multi-trillion dollar contribution that natural capital makes to the world's economy. The problem is time is simply not on our side, but the task is not impossible."

Deloitte Denmark has developed a publication (PDF 200k) about the IASB's Exposure Draft (ED) Insurance Contracts. The 24-page publication (which is in the Danish language) provides an overview of the ED and examines the expected impact on Danish life and non-life insurance companies, including focus on the new part of the statement of comprehensive income for insurance contracts.

Deloitte Colombia has translated the IFRS Presentation and Disclosure Checklists for 2010 into the Spanish language. The IFRS Presentation and Disclosure Checklist for 2010 is formatted to allow the recording of a review of financial statements, with a place to indicate yes/no/not-applicable for each presentation and disclosure item. Click for:

• IFRS Presentation and Disclosure Checklist for 2010 (Word version, Spanish) (ZIP of a Microsoft Word file 517k)
• IFRS Presentation and Disclosure Checklist for 2010 (PDF version, Spanish) (PDF 2,989k)

Prescribed mining and oil gas companies would be required to disclose payments that are made to further the commercial development of oil, natural gas, or minerals, such as taxes, royalties, fees, production entitlements and bonuses. These types of payments generally are consistent with the 'Publish What You Pay' coalition (PWYP) proposals included in IASB Discussion Paper DP/2010/1 Extractive Activities.

Comments on the proposed rules close on 31 January 2011. Click for press release (link to SEC website). More information on the Dodd-Frank Act reforms can be found in the Heads Up Newsletter The Final Act – Financial Reporting Implications of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (PDF 173k).

We've posted Deloitte observer notes from the topics discussed on day four of the meeting. The topics discussed were as follows (click through for direct access to the notes for that particular topic):

Thursday, 16 December 2010 (IASB-FASB joint meeting)

• Financial instruments — Impairment
  • Results of outreach on model choices from IASB and FASB
  • Forward looking plan
• Asset and liability offsetting
  • Disclosure requirements (continuation of discussion from Tuesday 14 December)

Click here to go to the preliminary and unofficial Notes Taken by Deloitte Observers for the entire meeting.

• Conceptual Framework Exposure Draft 1 (CF-ED1) Conceptual Framework for General Purpose Financial Reporting by Public Sector Entities: Role, Authority, and Scope; Objectives and Users; Qualitative Characteristics; and Reporting Entity proposes that the objectives of financial reporting should be to provide information for accountability and decision-making purposes and should extend beyond the traditional financial statements to include more comprehensive financial and non-financial information
• Consultation Paper Elements and Recognition in Financial Statements identifies alternative asset and liability-led and revenue and expense-led approaches to financial statements and considers the key characteristics of assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses
• Consultation Paper Measurement of Assets and Liabilities in Financial Statements considers the measurement bases that may be appropriate for the elements that are recognised in financial statements, discussing historical cost, market value, replacement cost and deprival value.

Many of the IPSASs currently on issue are based on IFRSs to the extent that the requirements of those IFRSs are relevant to the public sector. However, development of the IPSASB's Conceptual Framework is not an IFRS convergence project, and the purpose of the IPSASB's project is not to interpret the application of the IASB Framework to the public sector.

The development of a conceptual framework for public sector accounting standards is an important step towards their widespread adoption in various jurisdictions and may see some countries move to base public sector, and possibly not-for-profit, accounting standards on IPSASs (for instance, the New Zealand Accounting Standards Review Board is currently considering the viability of adopting IPSASs in New Zealand).

Comments on the documents are requested by 15 June 2011. Click for IPSASB press release (link to IFAC website).

The aim of the project is to provide European input to the future consideration, development and use of the business model concept in financial reporting. The project is being led by EFRAG and supported by the standardsetters from the UK (ASB) and France (ANC). As part of the arrangements for the project, a pan-European advisory panel is being established to support the work, and EFRAG is now seeking nominations for membership of that panel.

It has been updated not only to deal with new and amended requirements but also to reflect increased practical experience of dealing with IFRS issues and to include many more illustrative examples.

As well as dealing comprehensively with Standards that apply for periods ending 31 December 2010, it also covers those further pronouncements issued by the IASB that will apply from 2011. New material includes:

• IFRIC 19 Extinguishing Financial Liabilities with Equity Instruments,
• the revised version of IAS 24 Related Party Disclosures,
• the IASB's amendments to existing Standards,
• an overview of the IFRS for SMEs, identifying key differences with full IFRSs,
• IFRS 9 Financial Instruments.

Orders for this guide may be placed via www.lexisnexis.co.uk/deloitte.

We've posted Deloitte observer notes from the topics discussed on day three of the meeting. We have also posted the notes of the revenue recognition project discussion from Day 2 of the meeting. The topics discussed were as follows (click through for direct access to the notes for that particular topic):

Tuesday, 14 December 2010

• Revenue recognition
  • Initial comment letter analysis

Wednesday, 15 December 2010

• Consolidation (IASB only)
  • Feedback received through FASB roundtables
  • Effective date for IFRSs on consolidation, joint arrangements and disclosure of involvement with other entities
• Insurance contracts
  • Issues identified in the outreach activities
• Financial instruments — Hedge accounting
  • Education session

Click here to go to the preliminary and unofficial Notes Taken by Deloitte Observers for the entire meeting.