Review the letter on the IASB's website.

Review the letter on the IASB's website.

The CDOR is a daily benchmark reference rate for Bankers’ Acceptance ("BA”) borrowings. The Canadian BA market exists primarily within Canada and, at about 20% of the overall money market, constitutes the largest sector of the Canadian dollar money market after Government of Canada treasury bills. CDOR is currently the primary interest rate benchmark in Canada and is widely used in other Canadian dollar financial instruments including interest rate swaps, exchange-traded futures, loans and floating rate notes.

On December 16, 2021, the Canadian Alternative Reference Rate working group (“CARR”) issued a white paper (“White Paper”) recommending that “RBSL should cease the calculation and publication of CDOR after June 30, 2024”. The CARR recommendation has been unanimously endorsed by all members of both CARR and the Canadian Fixed-Income Forum (“CFIF”).

Any decision to cease CDOR remains with RBSL as the designated benchmark administrator of CDOR and CARR’s recommendation does not constitute a public statement or publication of information that CDOR has ceased or will cease permanently or indefinitely. On December 16, 2021, RBSL issued a response to the CARR recommendation4 noting that CARR:

• Has concluded that certain aspects of CDOR’s architecture will pose risks to its future viability and robustness,
• Has recommended that RBSL, as the CDOR benchmark administrator, cease publication of all of CDOR’s remaining tenors after June 30, 2024, and
• Indicates that the decision to cease publication of CDOR ultimately lies solely with RBSL and CARR’s recommendation does not constitute a public statement or publication of information that CDOR has ceased or will cease permanently or indefinitely.

RBSL’s response further noted that RBSL as benchmark administrator for CDOR will conduct its own analysis, engage with market participants and consider what further steps might be necessary in order to reach a conclusion regarding the future of CDOR.

Review the consultation paper on Refinitiv's website.

Review the amendments on the CPA Canada's website.

The taxonomy update includes changes to elements to reflect new and amended disclosure requirements in Disclosure of Accounting Policies (Amendments to IAS 1 and IFRS Practice Statement 2) and Definition of Accounting Estimates (Amendments to IAS 8).

Review the press release on the IASB’s Web site.

This marks the completion of the first of two organizations to consolidate into the IFRS Foundation with the other, Value Reporting Foundation, expected to consolidate by June 2022. Also noted was that the CDSB Framework, recent technical guidance on water, biodiversity and social disclosures, and other resources will remain applicable until the ISSB publishes its IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards.

Review the press release on the IFRS Foundation’s website.

Key takeaways from the interview include:

• Mr. Faber places sustainability at the core of business strategy and believes the development of ‘high-quality global standards for disclosing sustainability information will significantly reduce greenwashing ‘noise’ and help companies and investors have meaningful conversations about what really matters to them and the concrete steps taken to implement sustainability commitments’.
• He commented that way of viewing the linear economic system is coming to an end and focus needs to be put in addressing volatilities associated with climate change in order to manage and mitigate its effect.
• Previous role as Chair of Danone provided him with experience in leadership and working with stakeholders from all over the world.
• Mr. Faber looks forward to getting to know his new colleagues, working out the details of the prototypes developed by the Technical Readiness Working Group, and engaging with stakeholders.
• Some challenges he noted were getting the ISSB up and running which includes the appointment of a diverse group of ISSB members. In addition, the creation of a timeline that meets the need to quickly produce these standards while making sure stakeholders have enough time to provide feedback. Success in the first year will be measured by accomplishing the goals set out by the IFRS Foundation Trustees and overcoming the challenges noted.
• ISSB will learn for the standard-setting process already established by the IASB. The two organizations will collaborate as much as needed during the process.
• A public consultation on the future work plan is being developed. The work plan will assist the ISSB on which topics it should focus on first.
• Sustainability disclosures will play an important role to reach the objectives set in the Paris Agreement. He commented that ‘helping build a globally accepted language about these emissions that will be a foundation for effective dialogue and decision making among all the stakeholder groups of the Paris Agreement’.

Review the full interview on the IFRS Foundation’s website.

While the IFRS Foundation Constitution affords the ISSB the option to publish exposure drafts for public comment when approved by its Chair and Vice-Chair, and subject to oversight by the Trustees’ Due Process Oversight Committee, a quorum of eight members is required for the ISSB to deliberate on feedback received on the exposure drafts and for final requirements to be published. With the Chair and Vice-Chair already appointed, the Trustees will now focus on appointing a first set of six ISSB members from among the applications received so far. The press release notes that further applications are still welcome, which would then be considered in the next round of appointments.

The Trustees note that this approach will (a) enable the ISSB to begin its work and move at the pace required by stakeholders and (b) allow them, at each step, to build further the diversity and breadth of profiles and expertise of the ISSB.

The press release states that a similar approach is being taken to determining the membership of two key advisory bodies to the ISSB: the Sustainability Consultative Committee and the Sustainability Standards Advisory Forum.

Review the press release on the IFRS Foundation website.

The first webcast (approx. 2 minutes) provides background information about reverse factoring and other supplier finance arrangements. The second webcast (approx. 9 minutes) illustrates how the IASB’s proposals aim to enhance the transparency of supplier finance arrangements.

Listen to both webcasts on the IFRS Foundation's website.

Below is an analysis of all changes made to the work plan since our last analysis on January 28, 2022.

Stan­dard-set­ting projects

• Dis­clo­sure Ini­tia­tive — Sub­sidiaries without Public Ac­count­abil­ity: Dis­clo­sures — The dis­cus­sion of the exposure draft feedback is now expected in April 2022 (pre­vi­ously Q2 2022).
• Dis­clo­sure Ini­tia­tive — Targeted Stan­dards-level Review of Dis­clo­sures — The dis­cus­sion of the exposure draft feedback is now expected in May 2022 (pre­vi­ously Q2 2022).
• Second Com­pre­hen­sive Review of the IFRS for SMEs Standard — Exposure draft is expected in H2 2022.

Main­te­nance projects

• Avail­abil­ity of a Refund (Amendment to IFRIC 14) — Project has been removed from work plan.
• Lease Liability in a Sale and Leaseback — IFRS amend­ments are expected in H2 2022.
• Pro­vi­sions — Targeted Im­prove­ments — Despite the Board deciding at the February meeting to continue the project, the work plan still has an entry "Decide project direction"

Research projects

• Ex­trac­tive Ac­tiv­i­ties — Decision of the direction of the project is expected in Q3 2022 (pre­vi­ously H2 2022).
• Pension Benefits that Depend on Asset Returns — Project summary is expected in April 2022 (pre­vi­ously Q2 2022).

Other projects

• IFRS Taxonomy Update — Amend­ments to IAS 1, IAS 8 and IFRS Practice Statement 2 — Project is no longer in the work plan due to the issuance of IFRS Accounting Taxonomy 2021 on 15 February.
• Third Agenda Con­sul­ta­tion — Feedback statement is expected in Q3 2022 (pre­vi­ously H2 2022).

The above is a faithful com­par­i­son of the IASB work plan at January 28, 2022 and February 28, 2022.

For access to the current IASB work plan at any time, please click here.

Watch the recording on the AcSB's website.