In a summary published by Osler, the objective of the proposed amendments is to bring Canada’s anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing regime (AML/ATF Regime) into line with international standards set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental body of which Canada is a founding member, which promotes implementation of measures for combatting threats to the integrity of the international financial system. The FATF identified several deficiencies in its last evaluation of Canada in 2015 which have been addressed by proposed amendments in the following areas:

• customer due diligence requirements are modernized and, in some respects, broadened
• persons and entities dealing in virtual currency are regulated as money services businesses (MSBs)
• foreign MSBs are subject to the Canadian AML/ATF Regime to the extent their activities are directed to Canadian customers
• the deadline for filing suspicious transactions reports (STRs) is shortened from 30 days to 3 days
• prepaid credit cards and similar open-loop payment products are treated as bank accounts
• prior to launching new technologies, reporting entities are expected to assess the potential money laundering/terrorist financing risks posed by such technologies on their products and delivery channels
• certain existing requirements are clarified and technical amendments are made

Review the draft amendments on the Government of Canada's website and the summary on Osler's website.

The topics covered during the meeting were the following (numbers in brackets are ref­er­ences to the cor­re­spond­ing para­graphs of the summary):

• Rate-regulated activities (1–9): ASAF members discussed (1) unit of account and asset/liability definitions and (2) scope of the model. In addition, the ASAF members discussed the development of communication materials.
• Disclosure initiative — Principles of disclosure (10–24): ASAF members discussed (1) location of information that includes IFRS information outside of financial statements and non-IFRS information within financial statements and (2) accounting policy disclosures.
• Commodity loans and related transactions (25–43): ASAF members discussed several topics related to items described in the Board’s January 2018 meeting. These include: (1) the extent that entities in their jurisdictions enter into transactions, (2) diversity in accounting, (3) standard-setting activities, and (4) potential standard-setting activities.
• Accounting policies and accounting estimates (44–48): ASAF members were provided feedback on Exposure Draft, Accounting Policies and Accounting Estimates, and provided views on next steps for the project.
• Is financial reporting still an effective tool for equity investor in Australia? (49–51): ASAF members viewed a presentation from by the AASB on financial reporting’s effectiveness for equity investors in Australia.
• Goodwill and impairment (52–71): The ASAF members discussed (1) a staff proposal that amends the impairment testing of goodwill by considering movements in headroom and (2) the IFRS 3 requirement to recognize all identifiable intangible assets acquired in a business combination separately from goodwill.
• Primary financial statements (72–88): ASAF members provided views the Board’s tentative decisions to date on the application to financial entities and aggregation and disaggregation.
• IFRS Foundation Due Process Handbook review (89–99): ASAF member were updated on the Trustees’ review of the Due Process Handbook and provided views on its scope.
• Project updates and agenda planning (100–104): ASAF members were updated on the IASB research pipeline and provided advice on how to proceed with the post-implementation reviews of IFRS 10, IFRS 11, and IFRS 12.

A full summary of the meeting is available on the Board's website.

IAS 29, Financial Reporting in Hyperinflationary Economies defines and provides general guidance for assessing whether a particular jurisdiction's economy is hyperinflationary. But the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) does not identify specific jurisdictions. The International Practices Task Force (IPTF) of the CAQ monitors the status of "highly inflationary" countries. The Task Force's criteria for identifying such countries are similar to those for identifying "hyperinflationary economies" under IAS 29.

The IPTF's discussion document for the May 16, 2018 meeting is now available and states the following view of the Task Force:

Countries with three-year cumulative inflation rates exceeding 100%:

• Angola
• South Sudan
• Suriname
• Venezuela

Countries with projected three-year cumulative inflation rates exceeding 100%:

• Argentina
• Democratic Republic of Congo

Countries where the three-year cumulative inflation rates had exceeded 100% in recent years:

• Sudan

Countries with recent three-year cumulative inflation rates exceeding 100% after a spike in inflation in a discrete period:

• Ukraine

Countries with projected three-year cumulative inflation rates between 70% and 100% or with a significant (25% or more) increase in inflation during the current period

• Egypt
• Libya
• Yemen

Review the full list, including exact numbers, detailed explanations of the calculation of the numbers, and observations of the Task Force are available on the CAQ website.

SAB 118 permits companies to assess, record provisional amounts and ultimately finalize disclosure of the financial impact of tax reform over a “measurement period” of up to one year from the date of the legislation’s enactment.  However, Mr. Teotia clarifies that SAB 118 does not allow companies to defer reporting of tax reform’s impact.

The measurement period ends when an entity has completed the process necessary to finalize its assessment of tax reform’s impact – and for certain income tax effects, that could be well before the one year mark.

Review the full speech on the SEC's website.

Business Roundtable supports corporate strategies that allocate capital for long-term growth and management of risks, with the goal of producing sustainable value creation. Public companies should be managed for long-term prosperity, not to meet the latest forecast. Such short-termism is unhealthy for America’s public companies and financial markets — which are critical to economic growth and financial prosperity.

Review the press releases from Business Roundtable, the National Association of Corporate Directors and the National Investor Relations Institute and publications from the Wall Street Journal and The Accounting Review.

The first point made in relation to financial reporting regarded general purpose financial reporting, special purpose financial reporting, and the expectation gap that results from confusing or mixing these two forms of reporting. While general purpose financial reports come with the objective of providing financial information about the reporting entity that is useful to existing and potential investors, lenders, and other creditors in making decisions about providing resources to the entity, special purpose financial reports are prepared using a particular framework to address specific needs of specific users and these frameworks can include intentions to achieve a certain behaviour. Mr Bricker warned against applying expectations regarding special purpose financial reports to general purpose financial reports and against beginning standard-setting with additional objectives in mind that go beyond providing decision useful financial information.

Nevertheless, Mr. Bricker expressed the belief that general purpose financial reporting needs to continue to evolve and the standard-setters must continue to strive to set standards that provide the best information to a broad baseline of investors and investment advisers while preparers need to use judgement in applying the standards.

The second point Mr. Bricker made followed on from the need to continue to advance general purpose financial reporting to address expectations around financial reporting and any gaps that might exist. He stressed that everyone in the financial reporting structure needs to support the work of the accounting standard-setters and that thinking needs to be shared.

Review the full speech on the SEC's website.

The proposal aims to simplify and tailor the compliance requirements of the Rule, which was finalized back in December 2013 to prevent banks from engaging in proprietary trading and from owning hedge funds or private equity funds.

Among other changes, this proposal intends to:

• Create categories of banking entities based on the size of their trading assets and liabilities
• Tailor compliance requirements based on a banking entity’s level of trading activity
• Modify the term “trading account” in the Rule
• Modify or remove select compliance requirements specific to certain proprietary trading and covered funds exemptions
• Create a presumption of compliance with the underwriting and market-making exemptions for certain trading desks whose activities fall within certain internal risk limits
• Modify certain requirements related to metrics reporting and streamline the related data collection process

Review the blog on the Center for Regulatory Strategy Americas' website.

For Karim Hajjar, the link between sustainability and value is clear, though he might quibble with the strict use of the word sustainability. "If people ask me if I am a strong believer in sustainability I will say no", he says. "I am actually a big believer in sustainable value". And he made the difference clear in a statement he made in Solvay’s latest integrated report. "With over a 150 years of history we are deeply aware of the importance of value that stands the test of time", he wrote. "Sustainability without strong profits is unsustainable, while strong profits to the detriment of sustainability undermine the longevity of a business’" He is also increasingly clear on the strong links between ESG, environmental, social and corporate governance factors, and share price and returns.

In a video interview, he explains how integrated thinking should be the driver for integrated management, how investors are catching up, slowly, with an understanding of how all these ESG factors feed into the bottom line, and the value that non-financial, (what he calls extra-financial), measures create when strongly linked to the traditional financial measures. And he talks of how all these benefits provide much greater clarity in the quality and effectiveness of management.

Read the entire column on our Global IAS Plus site.

This Framework is the first step in responding to the needs of stakeholders – such as investors, contributors, lenders and other resource providers – about the performance measures reported by entities.

The AcSB wants to discuss and improve financial and non-financial performance measures reported outside of financial statements.

The concerns they want to address include:

• The quality of performance measures being reported.
• The lack of consistency, transparency and comparability of performance measures reported period to period.
• The “expectation gap” about the governance practices of entities over how performance are developed and reported, and whether those measures are subject to assurance.
• The limited guidance available on how to develop and report performance measures not usually subject to assurance.

Review the press release and reference materials on the AcSB's website.

In a summary prepared by Blakes, the Proposed Amendments codify certain market practices and exemptions previously granted by the TSX and remove the requirement for shareholder approval of a qualifying acquisition subject to certain requirements. The Proposed Amendments also include certain non-material amendments to clarify various provisions as well as ancillary changes.

Review the proposed amendments on the TSX's website and a summary on Blakes LLP's website.