Effective January 1, 2018, revenue for all companies following IFRSs and US GAAP will be recognized under a new accounting standard – IFRS 15, Revenue from Contracts with Customers or the FASB's equivalent revenue standard, ASU 2014-09 Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606).

Much of the discussion so far has centered around it should be applied by preparers, not on how it should be analysed by analysts and investors. The paper now published by the CFA Institute examines the top 10 questions investors should consider as they review year-end 2017 results and consider first quarter 2018 reporting as it relates to the adoption of the new standard.

Review the full paper on the CFA Institute's website.

Par­tic­i­pants at the meeting, which was chaired by IASB® member Amaro Gomes, discussed business combinations under common control, accounting for micro entities, IAS 12, Income Taxes, initial measurement of payables when payment is deferred, IASB update, and an introduction to IFRS 17, Insurance Contracts.

Review the full report (five pages) on the the Board's website.

Below is an analysis of all changes made to the work plan since our last analysis on January 27, 2018.

Maintenance projects

• Plan amendment, curtailment or settlement (amendment to IAS 19) — This has been removed from the work plan, as an IFRS Amendment was issued on February 7, 2018.

Research projects

• Principles of disclosure — Discussions on feedback of the discussion paper occurred at the IASB’s February 2018 meeting; the next milestone is now “decide project direction” in March 2018.

Other projects

• IFRS Taxonomy Update—2017 Annual Improvements — The next milestone has changed from a Feedback Discussion in February 2018 to a Final Update in March 2018.

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

Previous guidance in this area stated that companies may be obligated to disclose cybersecurity risks and incidents, but it did not provide specific disclosure requirements. The new guidance clarifies that the SEC expects companies to disclose cybersecurity risks and incidents that are material to investors, including financial, legal, or reputational consequences.

Review the press release and interpretation on the SEC’s website.

Mr. Jackson and his SEC staff looked at 157 dual-class initial public offerings occurring over the past 15 years, and "immediately noticed some pretty significant differences" between the 71 companies with sunset provisions and the 86 without, and found that over time their predicted valuations diverged.

Seven or more years after their IPOs, firms without sunset provisions traded at a significant discount, and decisions by some firms to drop their dual-class structures later were associated with a significant increase in valuations, he said, noting that the analysis is preliminary but a subject "that deserves much further study."

Review the full speech on the SEC's website.

The complete set of information around the TRG meeting is now available:

• Audio recordings of the individual sessions
• Meeting summary
• Podcast (7 minutes)
• IFRS in Focus — Transition Resource group discusses implementation of IFRS 17 'Insurance Contracts'

Review the press release on the IASB's website.

The topics covered during the meeting included:

• Primary financial statements
• Disclosure initiative — Definition of material
• Disclosure initiative — Principles of disclosure
• Post-implementation Review of IFRS 13
• Wider Corporate Reporting
• Academic liaison
• Information deficiencies and consolidated financial statements
• Proposed improvements to IFRS 8
• Business Combinations Under Common Control
• Project updates and agenda planning

Review the press release and the summary of the meeting on the IASB's website.

In December 2017, the IASB concluded its discussions of the scope of the project and the webinar discussed the Board’s decisions and gives illustrative examples of transactions within the scope. The recording of the webinar lasts approximately 35 minutes.

Access the recording on the IASB's website.

The HLEG calls on the European Commission (EC) to “place greater emphasis on the need to integrate non-financial information” in the EU Directive on non-financial reporting. The final report states, “The ultimate ambition has to be convergence or integration of financial and non-financial or sustainability information… Integrated reporting supports this convergence qualitatively through reporting that links sustainability factors with company strategy.”

Review the final report and supporting materials on the EC's website.

In a video interview, he talks about progress with our regular columnist Robert Bruce.

Richard Howitt is confident about the future. And he has, he says, good reason to be so. Just as it took a while for the concept of integrated reporting to take hold around the world, there are now clear signs that integrated thinking, the key concept that underlies integrated reporting, is equally taking hold, the two concepts "go hand in hand" he said. He points to, for example, the global professional accounting body, IFAC.

It described integrated reporting as "the future of company reporting". He points to the High Level Experts’ Group on Sustainable Finance. It described integrated reporting as "the ultimate ambition". For Howitt, it is recognition that the journey of the concept of integrated reporting is still on course.

And Howitt was also encouraged by the IASB’s recent decision to revise its Management Commentary practice statement so that it was ever more closely aligned to integrated reporting. "That was", he said, "a very, very significant decision".

One of the obstacles that companies cite as a barrier is the absence of a global Standard for metrics, outside the mainstream financial numbers. There are many frameworks and standard-setting bodies in the this field and Howitt sees the Corporate Reporting Dialogue, which sits in the IIRC structure as a means of removing this obstacle.

There will be many a bump along the road ahead. The concept of integrated thinking as the ultimate transformative goal needs more emphasis. But progress is being made.

Read the entire column on our Global IAS Plus site.