Discussion points included:

• Professional Skepticism
• Structure of the Code
• Safeguards
• Part C of the Code
• Fees
• Non-Compliance or Suspected Non-Compliance with Laws and Regulations (NOCLAR)
• Long Association
• Strategy Survey

Review the highlights on the IESBA's Web site.

• reform some aspects of the process for electing directors of certain corporations and cooperatives;
• modernize communications between corporations or cooperatives and their shareholders or members;
• clarify that corporations and cooperatives are prohibited from issuing share certificates and warrants, in bearer form; and
• require certain corporations to place before the shareholders, at every annual meeting, information respecting diversity among directors and the members of senior management.

Part 2 amends the Competition Act to expand the concept of affiliation to a broader range of business organizations.

Review the proposed regulations on the Canadian Parliament's website.

Here are the winners:

Awards of Excellence in Financial Reporting: Crown corporations

• Federal (Large) — Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation
• Federal (Small) — Telefilm Canada
• Provincial — SaskPower

Awards of Excellence in Corporate Reporting: Industry winners

• Overall Award of Excellence in Corporate Reporting — TELUS
• Communications and Media — TELUS
• Consumer Products and Services — Canadian Tire Corporation
• Financial Services — BMO Financial Group
• Industrial Products and Services — WSP Global Inc.
• Mining — Goldcorp
• Oil and Gas/Forestry Products — Suncor Energy Inc.
• Real Estate — Boardwalk REIT
• Utilities/Pipelines — Enbridge Inc.

Awards of Excellence in Corporate Reporting: Category winners

• Award of Excellence in Financial Reporting — Potash Corp
• Honourable Mention in Financial Reporting — Intact Financial Corporation
• Award of Excellence in Sustainability Reporting — Goldcorp
• Honourable Mention in Sustainability Reporting — Suncor Energy Inc
• Award of Excellence in Electronic Disclosure — Intact Financial Corporation
• Honourable Mention in Electronic Disclosure — WSP Global Inc.
• Award of Excellence in Corporate Governance Disclosure — TELUS
• Honourable Mention in Corporate Governance Disclosure — Enbridge Inc.

Review the 2016 Judges’ Book on the CPA Canada's website.

The UK Strategic Report Regulations, applicable for periods ending on or after September 30, 2013, introduced a requirement for quoted companies to disclose their business model. This brought a requirement to disclose the business model into law for the first time, having been required under the UK Corporate Governance Code since 2010 (on a ‘comply or explain’ basis), and is seen as having codified common market practice.

The new EU Directive on Disclosure of Non-Financial and Diversity Information, expected to come into effect for reporting years commencing on or after January 1, 2017, will also introduce the requirement for companies across Europe, within the scope of the Directive, to disclose their business models. Companies across the EU may find this Lab report helpful as they consider their disclosures.

No definition of business model is provided in either the UK regulations or the EU Directive, and no commonly agreed definition currently exists in academic research or business literature. In practice, discussions on business model often drift into strategy, with the lines between them blurred. At the request of the then Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the FRC published non-mandatory Guidance on the Strategic Report in June 2014 which recommends the following information be described in the business model disclosure:

• how the entity generates or preserves value over the longer term;
• how the entity captures that value;
• what the entity does and why it does it;
• what makes the entity different from, or the basis on which it competes with, its peers;
• high level understanding of how the entity is structured;
• high level understanding of the markets in which it operates and how it engages with those markets; and
• broad understanding of the nature of the relationships, resources and other inputs that are necessary for the success of the business.

This report examines the views of company and investor participants on the key attributes of business model reporting, the value and use of business model reporting, together with illustrative examples of reporting favored by investors.

The SASB's State of Disclosure Report is a reference document that provides an overview of the quality of existing corporate disclosure across 79 industries in hundreds of SEC filings across every major industry. The report shows 81 percent of all disclosures analyzed across all SASB disclosure topics indicate some level of disclosure in SEC filings. However, more than 53 percent use boilerplate language and less than 24 percent of these disclosures contain metrics – demonstrating that many companies take a minimally compliant approach to sustainability disclosure. Review the report on the SASB's website.

The purpose of the IIRC's stakeholder feedback survey was to obtain views on integrated reporting and on the work of the IIRC. While 87 percent of responses strongly agree or agree that integrated reporting promotes a more joined up and efficient approach to corporate reporting, views on the work of the IIRC are more mixed with 45 percent of the total global responses saying they do not know whether the institutional arrangements for the IIRC are appropriate to the overall aims of the IIRC relating to integrated reporting. Review the report on the IIRC's website.

In the article, Mr. Barcelo writes that housecleaning, though deeply embedded in the underground economy (UE), is but a small fraction of the UE whole. The major sectors are residential construction (28% of the total UE in 2012), finance, insurance, real estate, rental, leasing and holding companies (or FIRE, 13%), retail trade (13%) and accommodation and food services (12%).

How big is the UE? No one seems to agree on a number, and evaluations vary widely — if not wildly. The basic evaluation is from StatsCan, which places it at $45.6 billion in 2013, or about 2.4% of GDP (approximately $1.8 trillion). Other studies throw in higher numbers. Analyzing retrospectively the years 1998 and 2004, a 2010 Bank of Canada study rates the amount of underreported income at between 14% and 19% of GDP.

Review the article on the CPA Canada's website.

In our CFO’s corner series, Jerome Townsend, Senior Manager in Deloitte’s Audit - Public practice, who also helped establish Deloitte’s internal Audit Analytics team, discusses how in the spectrum of hindsight - insight - foresight, the information we rely on often resides squarely within the hindsight category, leaving the insight and foresight components to individual interpretation and ‘gut feeling.’ Many organizations have survived and even flourished in this respect, but as technology, data and talent continue to expand and evolve, the competitive advantage continues to shift to those who know how to turn information into intelligence. Organizations that do this well are known as Insight Driven Organizations (IDOs).

Visit the CFO’s corner in Deloitte’s Centre for Financial Reporting to read this editorial as well as any previous articles that you may have missed.

In his column, he discusses how Melanie McLaren, Executive Director, Audit at the Financial Reporting Council, was launching an event at the Deloitte Academy to try and help pin down the many issues surrounding corporate reporting in a complicated, volatile, and ever-changing business world.

He mentions that McLaren is expecting a deep debate as a result of recent questions raised by politicians over the level of trust in business; the possibility of extending business representation to ordinary employees; a range of reporting, environmental and sustainability issues; and those of gender and pay. For her the reporting was what was important. ‘What gets reported drives behaviour’, she said.

Review the full article our UK Accounting Plus website.

Much of this, Goldman says, would be due to the enacting of plans President-elect Donald Trump proposed on the campaign trail, such as a tax holiday for overseas income and changes to the corporate tax code.

Other areas that will see a boost include capital expenditures, research and development, as well and mergers and acquisitions.

Review the article on Bloomberg Market's website.