May 2020

Outreach event on primary financial statements

May 14, 2020

On May 14, 2020, a web-based outreach event on primary financial statements co-hosted by FSR – Danish Auditors and the Confederation of Danish Industry (DI) with participation of IASB and EFRAG representatives drew a wide international audience. A recording of the event is now available.

The event was organized into a general introductory section and the discussion of five key topics (each again introduced by IASB and EFRAG) that were then opened to questions from the audience. The agenda below indicates where during the two-and-a-half hour recording the individual topics were discussed:

  • Opening and welcome
  • General introduction to the IASB exposure draft General Presentation and Disclosures (begins at about 5:00 minutes)
  • EFRAG’s view on the topic (begins at about 12:00 minutes)
  • Key Topic 1 – Defined lines and subtotals in the income statement – improved comparability or imposed uniformity? (begins at about 21:00 minutes)
  • Key Topic 2 – Looking at the new subtotals – what is the impact and will they work for all industries? (begins at about 1:20:00 hours)
  • Key Topic 3 – Management performance measures – definition, disclosure and unusual items: Will management still be able to explain the overall performance / generation of income in the context of the activities and business strategy? (begins at about 1:42:00 hours)
  • Key Topic 4 – Principles of aggregation and disaggregation – new proposals expected compared to how companies disaggregate information today (begins at about 2:19:00 hours)
  • Key Topic 5 – Statement of cash flows – change to the starting point, new disaggregation due to new line items introduced and removal of classification choice for interest and dividends (begins at about 2:27:00 hours, introduction by IASB and EFRAG only, no discussion due to reasons of time)

The recording of the outreach event is available here. You can also access the slides for the event on the EFRAG website.

SEC improves financial disclosures about acquisitions and dispositions of businesses

May 21, 2020

On May 21, 2020, the SEC issued a final rule, “Amendments to Financial Disclosures About Acquired and Disposed Businesses”. The final rule amends the SEC’s rules and forms “to improve their application, assist registrants in making more meaningful determinations of whether a subsidiary or an acquired or disposed business is significant, and to improve the disclosure requirements for financial statements relating to acquisitions and dispositions of businesses, including real estate operations and investment companies.”

Among other changes, the amendments:

The final rule will become effective at the beginning of a registrant’s fiscal year that starts after December 31, 2020 (e.g. January 1, 2021, for calendar-year-end companies); however, voluntary compliance is permitted before the effective dates as long as the final rule is applied in its entirety.

Review the final rule on the SEC's website.

Summary of the April 2020 ASAF meeting now available

May 11, 2020

On May 11, 2020, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) staff published a summary of the Accounting Standards Advisory Forum (ASAF) meeting held via remote participation on April 2, 2020.

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

  • IBOR reform and its effects on financial reporting — Phase 2 (1–12): The ASAF were provided with an overview of the IASB’s proposed amendments for the forthcoming Exposure Draft Interest Rate Benchmark Reform — Phase 2 and gave their initial views to the expected proposals, which they were in broad agreement. In addition, the ASAF members provided feedback on what constitutes a ‘modification’ of financial assets and financial liabilities, disclosures, and other topics.
  • Update on agenda planning (13–17): The ASAF was given an update on the IASB’s work plan and the change of timelines of various projects due to the coronavirus pandemic. The ASAF expects its next meeting to be held in July 2020 and will likely be virtual.
  • Goodwill and Impairment (18–25): The ASAF were provided with an overview of the IASB’s preliminary views on Discussion Paper Business Combinations — Disclosures, Goodwill and Impairment and provided recommendations on how to conduct outreach and fieldwork activities.
  • Better Communication — Primary Financial Statements (26–46): The ASAF discussed topics related to the proposals in Exposure Draft General Presentation and Disclosures. Topics discussed include subtotals and categories in the statement of profit or loss, disaggregation, management performance measures, and statement of cash flows.

Review the full summary on the IASB's website.

Updated IASB work plan — Analysis (May 2020)

May 25, 2020

On May 25, 2020, the International Accounting Standards Board (the Board) updated its work plan following its May 2020 meeting.

Below is an analysis of all changes made to the work plan since our last analysis on April 24, 2020.

Standard-setting projects

  • no changes

Maintenance projects

Research projects

  • Dynamic risk management — core model outreach has been clarified to take place in fourth quarter of 2020 (previously second half of 2020)

Other projects

  • IFRS Taxonomy update — Amendments to IFRS 17 and IAS 16 — a project newly added to the work plan; a proposed taxonomy update is expected in July 2020
  • IFRS Taxonomy update — Covid-19-related rent concessions (Amendment to IFRS 16) — a project newly added to the work plan; a proposed taxonomy update is expected in May 2020

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

 

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