At its meeting on March 12-14, 2019, the IASB continued its discussion of comments on the Exposure Draft, which proposes amendments to paragraphs 69–76 of IAS 1. The Board tentatively decided to clarify the IAS 1 requirements for classifying liabilities with equity-settlement features and asked the staff to perform focused consultation to obtain a better understanding of the practical effect of these clarifications. At a previous meeting, the Board had tentatively decided to clarify in IAS 1 that, in assessing an entity’s right to defer settlement of a liability, compliance with any conditions in a lending agreement should be assessed as at the reporting date, even if the lender will not test the entity’s compliance until a later date. At this meeting, the Board tentatively decided not to add further guidance on how to test compliance with conditions linked to the entity’s financial performance. The Board will discuss transition arrangements and review the due process on this project.

Review the IASB Update and podcast on the Board's Web site.

At its meeting on March 12-14, 2019, the Board discussed (i) whether to add to the required line items in the primary financial statements; and (ii) the definition of and guidance and disclosure requirements for unusual items.

With respect to (i), the Board tentatively decided to require entities to present in the statement of financial position:

1. goodwill;
2. investments in ‘integral’ associates and joint ventures accounted for using the equity method; and
3. investments in ‘non-integral’ associates and joint ventures accounted for using the equity method.

The Board also tentatively decided not to add amortization, depreciation or research and development expenditure to the list of line items in paragraph 82 of IAS 1 required to be presented in the statement(s) of financial performance.

With respect to (ii), the Board tentatively decided:

1. to define unusual items along the following lines – “Unusual items are income or expenses with limited predictive value because it is reasonable to expect that similar items will not arise for several future annual reporting periods”;
2. to state that gains or losses arising from the remeasurement of items required to be measured at current value (including fair value) generally should not be classified as unusual items; and
3. to require entities to provide a narrative description of the transactions or other events that give rise to unusual items. The Board will continue discussing topics within the scope of the project at future Board meetings.

Review the IASB Update and podcast on the Board's Web site.

At its meeting on March 12-14, 2019, the Board met to consider possible amendments to IFRS 17 relating to the following topics:

1. level of aggregation;
2. credit cards that provide insurance coverage;
3. transition requirements—risk mitigation option;
4. transition requirements—loans that transfer significant insurance risk;
5. amendments to disclosure requirements resulting from the Board’s tentative decisions to date; and
6. other implications for disclosure and transition requirements.

The Board tentatively decided to amend the requirements of IFRS 17 in respect of all of these items except for items (i) and (vi).

At its April 2019 meeting, the Board plans to consider the package of amendments tentatively decided by the Board as a whole. At that meeting the Board will consider whether:

1. on the whole, the benefits of the amendments outweigh the costs; and
2. on the whole, the amendments do not unduly disrupt implementation.

At the same meeting, the staff expect to request Board’s permission to start the balloting process for the proposed amendments to IFRS 17.

Review the IASB Update and podcast on the Board's Web site.

At its meeting on March 12-14, 2019, the Board met to continue its deliberations about accounting policy disclosures. The Board tentatively decided to use two examples to demonstrate how an entity should apply the four-step materiality process set out in the materiality practice statement to accounting policy disclosures. The Board also tentatively decided that the examples should:

1. highlight the need to focus on information useful to users of financial statements; and
2. demonstrate how the application of the four-step materiality process can respond to:
   1. the use of boilerplate or generic information in accounting-policy disclosures material to the financial statements; and
   2. accounting-policy disclosures containing only information that repeats requirements of IFRS Standards. The Board will discuss due process steps at a future meeting.

Review the IASB Update and podcast on the Board's Web site.

At its meeting on March 12-14, 2019, the Board met to discuss: (i) whether an entity should have a choice to apply the relief set out during the February 2019 Board meeting and when an entity should cease to apply the relief; and (ii) due process steps.

With respect to (i), the Board tentatively decided that:

1. the application of the relief, where applicable, should be mandatory;
2. entities should cease to apply the relief when the earlier of the following occurs: i. uncertainty regarding timing and amount of the resulting cash flows is no longer present; and ii. the hedging relationship terminates; and
3. end of relief, before the termination of the hedge relationship, is not applicable for separately identifiable risk components.

With respect to (ii), the Board tentatively decided that the comment period for the proposed amendments to IFRS 9 and IAS 39 should be 45 days. All Board members confirmed they were satisfied that the Board has complied with the applicable due process requirements and that it has undertaken sufficient consultation and analysis to begin the process for balloting the Exposure Draft. No Board members indicated they intend to dissent from the proposed amendments to IFRS 9 and IAS 39. The Board plans to issue an Exposure Draft in the second quarter of 2019.

Review the IASB Update and podcast on the Board's Web site.