The three exposure drafts are:

• Proposed Statement on Auditing Standards, Omnibus Statement on Auditing Standards—2018
• Proposed Statement on Auditing Standards, The Auditor’s Responsibilities Relating to Other Information Included in Annual Reports
• Proposed Statements on Auditing Standards, Auditor Reporting and Proposed Amendments―Addressing Disclosures in the Audit of Financial Statements

Review the Exposure Drafts on the AICPA's website.

The board decided to issue an Accounting Standard Update (ASU) that will:

• Provide an optional practical expedient for transition. Organizations that elect the practical expedient would not be required to consider their accounting for existing land easements that are not currently accounted for under FASB ASC Topic 840.
• Clarify that new or modified land easements should be evaluated under Topic 842 (the leases standard) once effective.

In addition, the board decided to issue a proposed ASU with a comment period of 30 days that would add an option for transition to Topic 842 that would enable an organization to not provide comparative period financial statements. Instead, an organization would apply the transition provisions of the lease accounting standard at its effective date.

Review the press release on the FASB's website and an article on the Journal of Accountancy's website.

The discussion on the reputation survey was held in private session. On the other two significant topics, the report — prepared by the Chair of the IFRS Advisory Council, Joanna Perry — notes the following discussions:

• The effect of technology on the future of accounting and corporate reporting — Members of the Council were convinced that massive changes in relation to technology will have an impact upon accounting, corporate reporting and the IFRS Foundation. However, they also thought that there was a clear future role for some form of financial reporting and for some form of principle-based accounting standards and, therefore, for the IFRS Foundation. They noted that stakeholders will need to deal with unstructured data and with judgements being made in a real-time environment in the future and that the IFRS Foundation needs to consider early how to respond to the changes. Members considered that it would be useful to include further sessions on technology on the Council’s future agenda .
• Better communication — Members commended the Board on the publication of the report Better Communication in Financial Reporting and provided various suggestions for both how the Board could promote the document and how Council members (and therefore others) could use the document.

Members also received updates from the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, from the IASB Chairman, and on the Trustees’ activities.

Review the full report on the IASB's website.

The five questions discussed include:

1. Will IFRS 17 affect dividend payouts?
2. How can a principle-based Standard like IFRS 17 improve comparability between insurers?
3. Will IFRS 17 bring global comparability to the insurance sector?
4. What are the main differences between IFRS 17, regulatory reporting and embedded value reporting?
5. How will removing insurance premiums from the income statement improve comparability?

Review the article on the IASB’s website.

Here's a summary of staff recommendations:

Definition of finance income/expenses

The staff recommended:

1. using ‘cash and cash equivalents’ as a proxy for cash and temporary investments of excess cash (‘excess cash’) in the definition of finance income/expenses.
2. that finance income/expenses consist of the following five line items:
   1. interest income from cash and cash equivalents calculated using the effective interest method;
   2. other income from cash, cash equivalents and financing activities;
   3. expenses from financing activities;
   4. other finance income; and
   5. other finance expenses. 
3. clarifying the current description of ‘financing activities’ in IAS 7 Statement of Cash Flows using the wording recommended to the IFRS Interpretations Committee by the staff in March 2013.  

Better ways to communicate other comprehensive income (OCI)

The staff recommended:

1. renaming the two categories in the OCI section of the statement(s) of financial performance as follows:
   1. ‘remeasurements reported outside profit or loss’ (previously OCI items that will not be reclassified subsequently to profit or loss); and
   2. ‘income and expenses to be included in profit or loss in the future’ (previously OCI items that will be reclassified subsequently to profit or loss).
2. introducing a new subtotal between the two categories called ‘income after remeasurements reported outside profit or loss’.
3. developing investor education material in the form of case studies that illustrate why it is important for users of financial statements to consider items of OCI in their analysis of companies.

Review the agenda papers and listen to the webcast for this meeting on the IASB's website.

The TRG is intended to support implementation by providing a public forum to discuss questions raised on implementation of the new Standard IFRS 17, Insurance Contracts.

The TRG discussed Agenda Paper 1, which included an overview and operating procedures.

Review the meeting summary and podcast on the IASB's website.

Below is an analysis of all changes made to the work plan since our last analysis on October 27, 2017.

Major projects

• A new project Management commentary (Wider corporate reporting) has been added to the IASB's agenda. The aim of the project is to review and update the Management Commentary Practice Statement issued in 2010 to help address the lack of alignment and integration between wider corporate reporting and financial reporting. The next project step will be an exposure draft, however, the Board is still considering the timetable for the publication of the ED.
• Definition of material - feedback on the ED is now expected in February 2018.

Main­te­nance projects

• Improvements arising from the post-implementation review of IFRS 8 — The feedback received on the ED revealed that respondents had mixed views on the proposals, and Board member views were also mixed. It was suggested during the Board's discussions at the November meeting that if the proposals ended up creating more problems, then the Board should consider not finalizing them. If it was decided to reject only some of the proposals, the staff should then assess the costs and benefits of proceeding with finalizing the remaining proposals. A decision on the project direction is expected in January 2018.

Other projects

• IFRS Taxonomy update for the annual improvements 2017 — new entry added to work plan. A proposed update is expected in November 2017.

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

The topics covered during the meeting included:

• Primary financial state­ments 
• Rate-regulated activities
• Definition of a business
• Goodwill and impairment
• Project updates and agenda planning

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

On better communication Mr. Hoogervorst offered no new insights, but confirmed that the IASB feels that it now has a good set of standards that covers the vast majority of transactions and would therefore prioritize better presentation and formatting of the information in the financial statements in the coming years, rather than developing new, big standards with focus on recognition and measurement. Similarly, on support of implementation and application, he mainly stressed the importance of the work of the IFRS Interpretations Committee, but offered no detailed insights.

Turning then to wider corporate reporting, Mr. Hoogervorst stated that the IASB is often asked questions about its role in this space and that some constituents would like the IASB to play a more central role in trying to create more uniformity in the multitude of sustainability standards. He admitted:

[T]he IASB knows that financial reporting in the narrow sense has its limitations. There are many elements of value creation which are important to the investor but which are not adequately captured in the financial statements. Investors need to understand a company’s business model and its strategy for long-term value creation. They need to understand the intangibles that are vital to their business model. And, yes, sustainability issues can also be important for long-term value creation in certain industries, just think of mining and car manufacturing.

And yet he also stated:

Let me be clear; we do not plan to get into environmental and sustainability reporting. That is not our area of expertise. There are many other players. Our remit is, and will remain, financial reporting—with focus on the participants in the capital markets. That is investors and potential creditors.

In conclusion, Mr. Hoogervorst offered that there has been a lot of development in this area since 2010 when the IASB published its Management Commentary Practice Statement and therefore, the IASB "is considering" whether to update the practice statement to capture the developments. This topic has been included on the IASB's agenda for its next meeting.

Review the full speech on the IASB's website.

The new revenue standard is effective for all public entities for annual periods beginning January 1, 2018 for calendar year-end public entities. The SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance selectively reviewed filings to monitor and enhance compliance with applicable disclosure and accounting requirements of the new standard. FEI reviewed revenue-related comment letter correspondence between the SEC and filers, and found the following trends:

• Early adopters have been asked to clarify considerations made for operationalizing different aspects of the standard
• The SEC began requesting more robust SAB 74 disclosures for periods ending December 31, 2016
• Several companies have disclosed incorrect effective dates for ASC 606 in their SAB 74 disclosures

Review the press release and the update on FEI's website.