December

Deloitte Comment Letter Image
IFRS for SMEs (mid blue) Image

Deloitte comment letter on five draft guidance Q&As for the IFRS for SMEs

01 Dec 2011

Deloitte's IFRS Global Office has submitted a letter of comment to the SME Implementation Group on its Third batch of SME Implementation Group questions and answer documents.

In the comment letter, we re-iterate our concern over whether the level of SME Implementation Group's due process applied to the Q&As is appropriate and consistent with other similar activities at the IFRS Foundation and IASB. As regards the Q&As included in this batch of documents we question their appropriateness for the following reasons:

  • We are not convinced that the issues are areas in which we consider that the IFRS for SMEs lacks clarity such that inconsistent implementation is likely to occur in the absence of a Q&A.
  • We do not consider publication of a high volume of draft Q&As (nine since February 2011) to be in keeping with the Board's plan for periodic updating of the IFRS for SMEs. We believe that unless issues are clearly urgent, widespread and likely to result in significant divergence in practice they should be addressed through the next omnibus exposure draft of the IFRS for SMEs rather than by producing a continuous stream of new guidance.

Click to download our Comment Letter on the SME Implementation Group draft Q&As. Also see our earlier story on the Third batch of SME Implementation Group questions and answer documents.

AOSSG (Asian-Oceanian Standard-Setters Group) (dk green) Image

Outcomes from November 2011 AOSSG meeting

01 Dec 2011

The third meeting of the Asian-Oceanian Standard-Setters Group (AOSSG) was held in Melbourne, Australia, on 23 and 24 November 2011.

The meeting was hosted by the Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) and was attended by 21 participating standard setting bodies, which were from Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Dubai, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Japan, Korea, Macao, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.  Representatives of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation also attended.

Topics discussed included:

  • Administrative matters. The group confirmed Kevin Stevenson (Chairman of the AASB) as Chair of the AOSSG and elected of the Chair of the Hong Kong Institute of CPAs (HKICPA) Financial Reporting Standards Committee, Clement Chan, as the Vice Chair of the AOSSG. The meeting agreed to extend the terms of the AOSSG Chair and AOSSG Vice-Chair from one year to two years to facilitate the long-term efficiency and effectiveness of the Group
  • IAS 41 Agriculture. The group members discussed a working group proposal, recently submitted to the IASB, to make a limited revision to IAS 41, specifically on bearer biological assets. The IASB members present tentatively expressed their support for considering the limited revision. The working group is also expected to begin considering a long-term research project that would involve performing a comprehensive review of IAS 41
  • Islamic finance. Members considered a working group presentation on the result of a recent survey on Islamic finance and noted some of the salient features of Islamic finance that may need to be considered when the IFRSs are being developed. In this regard, the working group suggested an Islamic Finance Advisory Group be established to provide input to the IASB and assist in the development of IFRSs
  • Emissions trading schemes. The group acknowledged the need for a global accounting standard on the emissions trading schemes (ETS) and urged the IASB to accelerate its ETS project
  • Other technical matters. The group discussed many IASB projects such as the agenda consultation, revenue recognition, leases, investment entities and financial instruments, and discussed other technical matters related to foreign currency translation and present valuing future cash flows.

Click for Communiqué from the meeting (link to AOSSG website). An informal meeting of the AOSSG is planned for March 2012 in Kuala Lumpur.

 

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