At its meeting on March 20-21, 2018, the AcSB began deliberating comments received from stakeholders and the recommendations from its PEAC on how to proceed with the proposals given the feedback received to the Exposure Draft. The Board decided to:

1. revise “Condition 2 – Redemption schedule” by replacing the reference to “explicit or implicit arrangements” in proposed paragraph 3856.23 (c) with “written or oral arrangements”, consistent with the language in the Exposure Draft, “Accounting for Related Party Financial Instruments and Significant Risk Disclosures (Proposed amendments to Financial Instruments, Section 3856”;
2. update “Condition 3 – No consideration other than shares exchanged” to clarify that this condition can apply to transactions that involve more than one class of shares;
3. include in Section 3856, Financial Instruments, the illustrative example relating to joint control that had been provided in the Exposure Draft’s Basis for Conclusions; and
4. provide an option to classify the shares as a financial liability even if all the conditions for the classification exception could be met. The Board also discussed whether: guidance was necessary to assess the related party unit of account; stock dividends should be within the scope of the classification exception; an option to present the effect of liability classification to retained earnings should be provided. The Board further considered the PEAC’s comments on whether transitional provisions were necessary in circumstances when information about a tax planning arrangement could not be obtained. The Board will continue deliberating this topic in its May 2018 meeting. It plans to issue the final amendments no later than the fourth quarter of 2018.

Review the Executive Summary on the AcSB's Web site.

At its meeting on March 20-21, 2018, the AcSB began deliberating stakeholders’ comments and the PEAC’s recommendations on how to proceed with the proposals given the feedback received on its initial measurement of related party financial instruments and significant risk disclosure proposals. The Board instructed the staff to draft wording clarifying various aspects of the Exposure Draft for discussion at its May 2018 meeting, including:

1. how an enterprise accounts for the various elements in a related party transaction that includes both financial and non-financial assets and liabilities;
2. updating and adding illustrative examples to help stakeholders apply the proposals;
3. accounting for the transfer of impaired related party financial assets between related parties; and
4. the initial measurement of financial instruments with variable or contingent consideration. The Board will also consider stakeholders’ comments on the subsequent measurement of related party financial instruments, including indexed related party financial liabilities and will provide authoritative guidance on entity-specific disclosures. The Board will continue deliberating this topic in its May 2018 meeting and plans to issue the final amendments no later than the fourth quarter of 2018.

Review the Executive Summary on the AcSB's Web site.

At its meeting on March 20-21, 2018, the AcSB considered the feedback received from fatal-flaw reviews and field testing the draft exposure draft of Section 3041, Agriculture. This feedback included input from members of its Agriculture Advisory Group and the PEAC, as well as from practitioners in the agriculture industry and agricultural producers. The Board directed the staff to clarify the proposals in the exposure draft regarding:

1. the point at which an enterprise ceases to apply proposed Section 3041, Agriculture, and applies another standard (such as Section 3031, Inventories);
2. agricultural inventories growing on land or in waters that an enterprise does not own or control;
3. the elements of input costs;
4. the condition that agricultural inventories must be available for immediate delivery to be measured at net realizable value; and
5. the rebuttable presumption that a biological asset is agricultural inventory on initial recognition if it is not used in a productive capacity. The Board further directed the staff to prepare materials illustrating key concepts to accompany the Exposure Draft when it is published no later than the third quarter of 2018.

Review the Executive Summary on the AcSB's Web site.

At its meeting on March 20-21, 2018, the AcSB continued its discussions on the interaction of its research activities with Section 1000, Financial Statement Concepts, and Section 1001, Financial Statement Concepts for Not-for-Profit Organizations. The Board decided to consider updates to its financial statement concepts, in conjunction with its research on priority topics for Parts II and III of the Handbook.

Review the Executive Summary on the AcSB's Web site.