• 18 May 2011 — Patrick Finnegan: At long last — a single model for consolidation

All Investor Perspectives are archived on the IASB's website.

Tuesday, 17 May 2011 (IASB/FASB)

• Asset and Liability Offsetting
• Exposure Draft feedback
• Project direction going forward

Notes from the other sessions on Tuesday will be posted shortly.

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

The consultation paper seeks to determine whether there are common views among users of audited financial statements and other stakeholders about the usefulness of auditor reporting. It describes issues with current financial reporting, including a perceived "information gap" identified by some stakeholders. It then sets out possible options for change and seeks input as to whether such options might be effective in enhancing auditor reporting and the communicative value of the auditor's report.

Comments on the Consultation Paper close on 16 September 2011. Click for IAASB press release (link to IFAC website).

The key conclusions of the forum were as follows:

• Integrated reporting needs to reflect an organisation's strategy and values, as well as how it is managed in social, environmental, and economic dimensions of performance
• The process of integrated reporting, in turn, is a powerful tool to help drive an organisation's strategic agenda, providing management with key drivers of performance
• Integrated reporting has to be open and transparent by reflecting both improvements in performance as well as weaknesses
• Pension fund investors, as well as some other institutional investors, are increasingly looking for financial implications of ESG factors to understand how an organisation's strategy and operations are affecting the numbers and key measures of performance.

Click for:

• IFAC press release (link to IFAC website)
• Our sustainability page.

• Editorial Corrections to IFRSs (link to IASB website).

Highlights from the meeting include:

• Financial instruments – the NSS has mixed views on a number of the areas of this project (impairment, hedge accounting, offsetting), but there is a need for a globally converged, high-quality standard to be completed as soon as possible (within constraints)
• Effective dates – most participating countries appear to favour a 2015 or 2016 implementation date for standards arising from the IASB's main projects
• Agriculture – the Malaysian Accounting Standards Board (MASB) is requesting the IASB to reconsider the accounting treatment for 'bearer' biological assets (e.g. fruit trees) by including them within the scope of IAS 16 rather than IAS 41. However, agricultural assets with attributes of both 'consumable biological assets' and 'bearer biological assets' (e.g. livestock) would continue to be measured under IAS 41.
• Role of the 'business model' in financial reporting – a study on this topic is being pursued by EFRAG in conjunction with the French and UK standard setters
• Other topics – the NSS also discussed the IASB's revenue and leases projects, post-implementation reviews, a disclosure framework for the notes to the financial statements, disclosure and presentation, a number of topical issues (including income taxes, common control, intangible assets) and administrative matters.

The full report is available UK Financial Reporting Council website (link to FRC website).

The revised summary of the agenda for the meeting can be found here. We maintain a summary of the agenda for the next scheduled IASB meeting, and details of future meeting dates, here.

Tuesday, 11 May 2011

• Insurance Contracts
• Measurement of policyholder participation

Wednesday, 12 May 2011

• Leases: Education Session
• Distinguishing between lease accounting approaches
• Lessee Accounting – other than finance lease
• Lessor Accounting: Finance leases – measurement and presentation
• Lessor Accounting – other than finance lease
• Insurance Contracts
• Accounting mismatch and volatility overview
• Reducing accounting mismatches in profit or loss through presentation
• Implications of using OCI to reduce accounting mismatches in profit or loss
• Assets backing insurance contract liabilities
• Hedge Accounting
• Hedge effectiveness assessment

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

In November 2010, the FAF staff announced a new process for conducting post-implementation reviews of standards issued by the FASB (see our earlier story). The FAF has begun a pilot test of its review process on a FASB standard to assess if the standard is meeting its stated objectives. This webcast will provide further details on the pilot test, as well as more information on the next phase of the FAF's new post-implementation review process and its goals.