The SEC issued new cybersecurity disclosure guidance earlier this year, and the regulator wants companies to align their current disclosure policies with that guidance. That means including in corporate filings discussions of board risk oversight, disclosure controls and procedures, and insider trading policies as they relate to cybersecurity.

Risks related to the U.K.’s exit from the European Union are another area in which the SEC is looking for additional detail in corporate filings. Negotiators for Britain and the EU reached a draft deal for the divorce on Tuesday, but British Prime Minister Theresa May must now rally her deeply divided cabinet behind this proposal.

The planned transition away from Libor, which financial regulators expect to complete by the end of 2021, is another topic corporate accountants should consider when preparing disclosures for compiling financial filings. There are significant uncertainties surrounding legacy financial instruments that rely on Libor and how the switch to another benchmark for these instruments may affect the reporting company’s hedge accounting.

Review the full article on the WSJ's website.

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

• Financial in­stru­ments with char­ac­ter­is­tics of equity (1–18): The ASAF members discusses views and feedback on the Dis­cus­sion Paper Financial In­stru­ments with Char­ac­ter­is­tics of Equity issued in June 2018.
• IFRS 3 Business Combinations reference to the Conceptual Framework (19–27): ASAF members discussed problems that could arise if an existing reference in IFRS 3 to the Framework for the Preparation and Presentation of Financial Statements were replaced with a reference to the 2018 Conceptual Framework.
• Extended external reporting (28–36): ASAF members gave feedback on the New Zealand’s External Reporting Board’s research on preparers of corporate reports and users of EER information.
• Accounting policies and accounting estimates (37–50): ASAF members provided their views on the definition of accounting estimate and accounting policy and were updated on feedback received from the IFRS Interpretations Committee.
• Rate-regulated activities (51–58): ASAF members provided their views on disclosure objectives and requirements for defined rate regulation.
• Extractive activities (59–64): The ASAF members provided information on what significant changes since the issuance of the 2010 Discussion Paper Extractive Activities.
• Project updates and agenda planning (65–70): ASAF members discussed the proposed agenda for the December 2018 ASAF meeting, disclosure initiative, and goodwill and impairment.

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

Review the press release and implementation questions on the Board's website.

The recommendations in the report were developed primarily for use by the preparer firms represented on the taskforce. However, the recommendations may be of relevance to other banks and similar financial institutions as a guide to best practice.

Review the report on the FRC's website.

Below is an analysis of all changes that were made to the work plan since our last analysis on October 26, 2018.

Standard-setting projects

• Primary financial statements — a discussion paper or exposure draft is now expected in the second half of 2019 (was: first half of 2019)

Maintenance projects

• Deferred tax related to assets and liabilities arising from a single transaction (Amendments to IAS 12) — newly added to the work plan; an exposure draft is expected in the first half of 2019
• Disclosure Initiative — Definition of Material (Amendments to IAS 1 and IAS 8) — removed from the work plan as final amendments were published on October 31, 2018
• Updating a Reference to the Conceptual Framework (Amendments to IFRS 3) — at its November meeting, the IASB decided to move forward with amendments, so the next project step is now an exposure draft (no date given)

Research projects

• Financial instruments with characteristics of equity — feedback on the discussion paper is now expected in the first quarter of 2019 (was: first half of 2019)
• Share-based payment — removed from the work plan as a research summary was published on October 31, 2018

Other projects

• IFRS Taxonomy update — Common Practice (IFRS 13) — an analysis of the feedback received is now expected in January 2019 (was: first quarter of 2019)
• Revisions to the Preface to IFRSs — newly added to the work plan; finalized wording is expected in December 2018

The revised IASB work plan is available on the Board's website.

Both Tuff and Goldbach have learned one sure thing after decades of working with different companies: Relying on best practices does not guarantee future success. Today’s accelerated speed of change means that business leaders need to ditch old habits and bring a fresh perspective to their operations if they want to get to the top and stay there.

Tuff emphasizes:

When change accelerates and we can no longer rely on the lessons of the past to do things well, that’s where best practices become really dangerous.

Review the transcript of the conversation and podcast on Wharton's website.