In the article, they discuss how one of the issues involves having to identify revenue when it includes “variable considerations.” Such as refunds, performance bonuses, discounts, and rebates. Corporate accountants will now have to figure out how to report variable considerations as they exist from day one of a contract. Variable consideration is something companies didn’t have to deal with previously” except under a small number of very specific circumstances.

Another challenge for preparers is that they now have to judge whether to recognize “a significant financing component” in their sales contracts and, if so, how much to recognize.  In such cases, the customer pays a considerable sum before the provider fulfills the contract.

Review the full article on CFO.com's website.

The first day saw the presentation of five academic papers, followed by a response of an academic and an IASB representative, again followed by a discussion with the audience. The papers included:

• The impact of accounting standards on pension investment decisions
• Gaps in the IFRS Conceptual Framework
• Articulation, profit or loss and OCI in the IASB Conceptual Framework: different shades of clean (or dirty) surplus
• Making Deferred Taxes Relevant
• Introducing More IFRS Principles of Disclosures – Will the Poor Disclosers Improve?

On the second day, IASB staff presented case studies for discussion by the audience. The case studies included:

• Financial Instruments with Characteristics of Equity Part A - Overview
• Financial Instruments with Characteristics of Equity Part B - Examples
• What is 'interest' in EBIT?

The topics discussed at the meeting included:

• IASB Update. Members discussed goodwill and impairment, transition resource groups in general, and investor feedback on the post-implementation review of IFRS 13. The IASB staff also provided an update on how GPF members’ feedback on educational materials during the November 2016 meeting was addressed.
• Proposed amendments to IAS 16 on property, plant and equipment. GPF members expressed mixed views on the proposed amendments, with some supporting them and some disagreeing with them. It was questioned whether the benefits from the change would outweigh the costs and it was noted that dealing with such changes would be unwelcome when entities are implementing several new IFRSs.
• Reputation survey. The staff sought feedback from the GPF members on how the IFRS Foundation can improve its engagement with its stakeholders, how the members think the GPF could be better utilised as ambassadors for the Foundation, and how they think the Foundation can improve timeliness without adversely affecting the quality of IFRSs.
• Proposed amendments to IAS 1 and IAS 8 regarding materiality. The GPF members generally agreed with the Board’s intention to align and refine the definition of material in IFRSs and the Conceptual Framework, although some GPF members expressed concerns about the practical implications of some proposed changes to the definition.
• Proposed amendments to IAS 8 on accounting policies and accounting estimates. Overall, GPF members tentatively supported the proposals in the exposure draft and said that it would provide clarity on the distinction between accounting policies and accounting estimates. However, some detailed points were raised.

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

The paper states that whilst it is widely acknowledged that transactions with and between members of the same group should not influence the outside appearance of that group and therefore be eliminated, such eliminations do result in a loss of information which is definitely and finally lost for outside users of financial statements. It goes on to note that, furthermore, much of today’s complexity in the environment is not captured in the group’s financial statements although it could highly influence the position, performance and cash flows of the group.

Review the paper on the IASB's website.

The Proposed IFRS Taxonomy Update proposes a number of improvements to the IFRS Taxonomy 2017, including:

• enhancements to the data model to support consistent tagging of reporting related to continuing and discontinued operations;
• changes to better reflect the disaggregation of disclosures in IAS 19 Employee Benefits; and
• changes to better reflect disclosures in IFRS 7 Financial Instruments: Disclosures relating to the initial application of IFRS 9 Financial Instruments.

Review the press release and proposed update on the IASB's website.

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.