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30 April 2002: Possible US legislation directing FASB to work with IASB
Today's Wall Street Journal reports that the Chairman of the US House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce is working on legislation that would (a) provide funding for FASB via government-collected fees from listed companies, (b) direct FASB to complete within 18 months new standards on off-balance-sheet entities and revenue-recognition issues, and (c) direct FASB to work with foreign organisations to create International Accounting Standards. The draft legislation is not yet on the Committee's Website.

30 April 2002: SEC Commissioner: US look to IASB progress on stock options
In a speech to the American Bar Association, US SEC Commissioner Isaac C. Hunt suggests that failure to expense the cost of stock options could result in "more capital being invested in companies that on the surface appear to be high growth earnings companies because their labor costs are not fully reflected in their financial numbers". He notes, however, that the FASB has "many more important priorities that must be addressed before it can reexamine accounting for option compensation. For example, accounting for special purpose entities and revenue recognition issues must be FASB priorities." Because the International Accounting Standards Board is currently examining this issue, Commissioner Hunt suggest that "it very well may be prudent to see what they come up with before FASB or the Commission address this issue." Link to Text of Speech (PDF 62k).

28 April 2002: Updated project pages
We have rewritten our project summaries for Business Combinations and Insurance Contracts.

26 April 2002: Business combinations exposure drafts delayed
IASB's recently updated project summary for its Business Combinations project indicates that the three exposure drafts expected for this project will not be issued until some time in the second half of 2002. The three EDs are for (a) a new IFRS on business combinations that would replace IAS 22, (b) a revised IAS 36, Impairment of Assets, and (c) a revised IAS 38, Intangible Assets.

26 April 2002: Enforcement of IFRS in Europe: FEE discussion paper
The European Federation of Accountants (FEE) has published a discussion paper that examines how IFRS should be enforced in order to ensure the consistent and rigorous application of financial reporting standards throughout Europe by 2005. The discussion paper calls for creation of a European enforcement coordination mechanism as a partnership among national enforcement bodies, including securities regulators (such as COB in France or CONSOB in Italy) and review panels (such as the UK Financial Reporting Review Panel). Click for Discussion Paper (PDF 281k) and Press Release (PDF 156k).

26 April 2002: We've updated our statistics page
The IASPlus Statistics Page has tables or links to information about the internationalisation of the world's capital markets. We have posted updated information for cross-border listings on the 45 FIBV member exchanges and details about foreign listings on the NYSE, NASDAQ, and London Exchange.

26 April 2002: Deloitte & Touche commentary on special purpose entities
We have posted the April/May 2002 edition of Deloitte & Touche For the Record. The subject of this issue: Improving the Transparency of Special Purpose Entities (PDF 143k). In applying IAS, SIC 12 addresses special purposes entities.

25 April 2002: US House approves accounting regulatory and disclosure legislation
The US House of Representatives has approved a bill that would create a regulatory board under the direct authority of the US Securities and Exchange Commission to certify auditors of publicly traded companies. The Board would have the power to impose sanctions for auditor misconduct. The bill would bar accounting firms from doing certain financial-systems consulting and internal auditing for audit clients. The bill would require "real-time disclosure" of insider transactions. And it would require disclosure of:

• "the issuer's off-balance sheet transactions and relationships with unconsolidated entities or other persons, to the extent they are not disclosed in the financial statements and are reasonably likely to materially affect the liquidity or the availability of, or requirements for, capital resources, or the financial condition or results of operations of the issuer;" and
• loans to officers, directors, and other insiders.
  The Senate is considering a similar but not identical bill. Joint approval of the legislation is required.

25 April 2002: Country pages updated for recent accounting standards activity
We have updated our pages for the following European and African countries to reflect recent developments in accounting and related matters: Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, and South Africa. Also, we have added a new page for Sweden with an explanation of how accounting standards are set in that country as well as comparisons with IAS.

25 April 2002: Greece requires IAS for listed companies effective 2003
The Greek Government recently passed legislation adopting International Accounting Standards for financial reporting in Greece. The legislation applies to annual financial statements for periods beginning after 31 December 2002 (that is, adoption from 2003 onwards), and will be compulsory for all companies listed on the Athens Stock Exchange (currently 318 companies). The new legislation will apply to both individual and consolidated financial statements and may be optionally applied by any other entity which is audited by the Institute of Certified Accountants Auditors of Greece. A committee has been set up to consider the detailed implementation of this new legislation. The work of this committee is expected to be completed by June 2002, after which various ministerial decisions will be issued, describing how the adoption will take place.

25 April 2002: April 2002 IASPlus Europe-Africa newsletter is posted
We have posted the April 2002 Europe-Africa edition of our IASPlus Newsletter.

25 April 2002: FASB voting changed to simple majority; staff reorganised
The Trustees of the Financial Accounting Foundation, which oversees FASB, have approved a change of the FASB voting requirement for standards and exposure drafts from 5 out of 7 to a simple 4-3 majority. The voting requirement for IASB is also a simple majority. The Trustees also discussed the FASB's reorganisation of its research and technical activities staff into three components: (1) major projects and technical activities (to be headed by Suzanne Q. Bielstein, formerly Assistant Director, Research and Technical Activities), (2) technical application and implementation activities (director to be named), and (3) planning, development and support activities (to be headed by Kimberley R. Petrone, formerly Project Manager). The Director, Technical Application and Implementation Activities will serve as Chair of the EITF. Until that position is filled, G. Michael Crooch, an FASB Board member, serves as the EITF Chair. Click for FAF Press Release (PDF 31k)

25 April 2002: IASB Chairman comments to UK Treasury Committee
The Treasury Committee of the UK House of Commons has been conducting an inquiry relating to financial regulation of public limited companies. The formal terms of reference are "to examine, in the light of the Enron collapse, the arrangements for financial regulation of public limited companies in the United Kingdom". On 5 April 2002, IASB Chairman Sir David Tweedie provided Written Evidence (PDF 89k) to the committee. His 20-page submission addresses, among other things, how IFRS differ from US GAAP and current criticisms and concerns about financial reporting.

24 April 2002: IASB member Robert Herz to be new FASB chairman
Robert Herz, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers and a part-time member of the International Accounting Standards Board, has been selected as the new chairman of FASB. Edmund Jenkins, the current FASB chairman, retires on 30 June. FASB Press Release (PDF 17k).

24 April 2002: Country pages updated for recent accounting standards activity
We have updated our pages for the following Asia-Pacific countries to reflect recent developments in accounting and related matters: Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, and Thailand.

24 April 2002: Project pages updated for April Board decisions
We have updated our project pages to reflect April 2002 IASB Board decisions on Business Combinations, IAS 19 Asset Ceiling Revision, Performance Reporting, Preface to IFRS, and Share-Based Payment.

24 April 2002: ECOFIN meeting notes
We have posted the Meeting Notes (PDF 39k) for the April meeting of the European Council of Finance Ministers in which the following 'policy actions' on financial reporting are urged:

• Speedy adoption this year of the Proposed Regulation requiring the use of IAS by listed EU companies from 2005, in line with the Barcelona Council conclusions;
• Preparation of the Commission's endorsement decision of existing IAS so as to make it possible for listed EU companies to prepare the change-over in time for the 2005 deadline;
• Further development of EU and national enforcement mechanisms so as to ensure proper and harmonised application of IAS within the EU in co-ordination with the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR);
• Sustained and co-ordinated upstream pressure within the IAS process to ensure that new IAS continue to follow the principle-based approach and reflect, as much as possible, European concerns;
• Continuation of the dialogue with US authorities to encourage their acceptance of IAS financial statements prepared by listed EU companies for listing within the US without reconciliation to US GAAP from 2005 onwards;
• EU support for global convergence through the IAS process on important accounting issues such as the treatment of financial instruments, share based payments and off-balance sheet financing schemes;
• Urgent modernisation of existing Accounting Directives in order to apply IAS principles to unlisted companies, when a Member State so chooses;
• Before Summer 2002, publication by the Commission of a second consultative document on Regular Reporting. This document will address issues such as the periodicity of financial reporting (quarterly reporting) and on-going disclosure obligations.

23 April 2002: Comparison of Chinese GAAP and IAS
We have posted a Comparison of Chinese GAAP and IAS. Chinese Accounting Standards are developed by the Ministry of Finance, with Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu serving as consultants. To date 16 Standards have been adopted, and others are under development or in the exposure draft stage. Click for China Country Information.

23 April 2002: April 2002 IASPlus newsletter is posted

We have posted the Asia-Pacific edition of our IASPlus Newsletter. The Europe-Africa and Americas editions will be posted in the next few days.

17-22 April 2002: Reports from the April IASB meeting
We have moved all of our reports of decisions at the April 2002 IASB meeting to a Combined Report page.

16 April 2002: European Finance Ministers urge speedy adoption of IAS
The Finance Ministers of the 15 European Union countries urged the adoption of the EU regulation that would require all listed EU companies to use IAS starting in 2005. The Ministers also agreed to push the US Securities and Exchange Commission to accept IAS financial statements filed by European companies without the reconciliation to US GAAP that is currently required. Click for More Information about IAS in Europe.

15 April 2002: Accelerated SEC filing deadlines would not apply to foreign issuers
The US SEC has voted to propose accelerating the filing deadlines for quarterly reports on Form 10-Q to within 30 days from quarter end (currently it is 45 days) and for annual reports on Form 10-K to within 60 days of year end (currently 90 days). The new deadlines would not apply to foreign issuers or very small domestic issuers. SEC News Release (PDF 14k).

11 April 2002: IOSCO responds to Enron-related issues
The IOSCO Technical Committee, consisting of 16 securities regulators from developed markets, has set up a high level sub-committee to coordinate and focus IOSCO's response to the securities regulatory issues highlighted by the bankruptcy of Enron and other high-profile business failures around the world. IOSCO Press Release (PDF 61k).

11 April 2002: Agenda for April IFRIC meeting
The newly reconstituted International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) will hold its first meeting on 23-24 April. All projects on the agenda of the former Standing Interpretations Committee have either been completed or withdrawn. At its April meeting, IFRIC will consider the following potential agenda issues:

• Discretionary distributions
• Economic compulsion
• Effective date and transition provisions
• IAS 19 Employee Benefits - the asset ceiling
• IAS 19 Employee Benefits - post-employment benefits liability measurement
• Linkage of transactions
• Transactions with owners
  

9 April 2002: International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board Website
IFAC has created a separate section of its website for the new International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB): www.iaasb.org.

9 April 2002: FEE study of accounting for business combinations in Europe
The European Federation of Accountants (FEE) has published the results of a study of accounting practices for 96 business combinations in 16 European countries in 1999 and 2000. Using the IAS 22 definition of a business combination, the study examines in detail the following six issues:

• What is being obtained: shares (in entities) or other assets
• What is the consideration: transferring shares or other assets
• The substance of the transaction: an acquisition or a uniting
• How is it accounted for: purchase, pooling or fresh start
• Calculation of goodwill
• Treatment of goodwill
  

8 April 2002: Timetable for three final Standards moved to 2003
IASB has postponed its planned issuance of final standards on First-Time Application, Improvements to Existing IAS, and Amendments to IAS 32 and 39 from late 2002 to 2003. Exposure Drafts on those projects, which had been expected in March, are now scheduled for some time in the second quarter of 2002.

8 April 2002: Agenda for IASB's April meeting is set
The Technical Agenda for IASB's 16-19 April meeting is as follows: