This bulletin highlights observations about various financial reporting topics relevant to reporting issuers that prepare financial statements in accordance with IFRS. The objective of this bulletin is to provide useful information to market participants that may assist in preparing future financial reports.

The staff of the OSC wants to:

• communicate considerations for disclosure effectiveness
• share their observations on recent areas of focus
• highlight their expectations for implementation of several new accounting standards.

When disclosing financial information, the staff of the OSC encourages reporting issuers to:

• take a "fresh look" at their financial statement disclosures, and consider how information could be more effectively and efficiently presented
• consider financial reports as communication documents as opposed to a "compliance exercise".

A reporting issuer's management, audit committee, and external auditor each has an important role to play in contributing to disclosure effectiveness.

Review the bulletin on the OSC's website.

The Board decided to set the mandatory effective date for IFRS 17 for annual periods beginning on or after January 1, 2021. Darrel Scott, Board member, and Andrea Pryde, project leader of the Insurance Contracts project, discuss the deliberations at that meeting.

Review the podcast (approx. 9 minutes long) on the IASB's website.

The report includes staff recommendations on the following topics:

• Core company business information
• Company performance, financial information, and future prospects
• Management and certain security holders
• Corporate governance
• Registration statement and prospectus provisions
• Exhibits
• Manner of delivery recommendations

Review the report on the SEC’s website.

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.

Mr. Schnurr began his tenure in October 2014, but suffered injuries from a serious bicycle accident in April 2016. Before joining the SEC staff, Mr. Schnurr had retired from Deloitte LLP, where he was vice chairman and senior professional practice director and specialized in financial and SEC reporting for public companies. He was a senior partner for mergers and acquisition services from 1994 to 2002 and a deputy managing partner of the firm’s professional practice from 2002 to 2009 where he was responsible for quality control and risk management of the firm’s audit and advisory services.

Mr. Bricker assumed the role of interim chief accountant in July 2016.

For more information, see the press releases on Mr. Schnurr’s retirement and Mr. Bricker’s appointment on the SEC’s Web site.

The report — prepared by the Chair of the IFRS Advisory Council, Joanna Perry — notes the following discussions:

• Scope of the Primary Financial Statements research project — The Members of the Council agreed that there is a tension between flexibility and comparability and although they supported providing more guidance, they warned against that guidance being too descriptive. Alternative performance measures were also discussed.
• Implementation support for the new insurance contracts standard — The Members of the Council agreed that the use of a transition resource group is appropriate; however all of the available tools for implementation support should be used.
• Key performance indicators for the IFRS Foundation — The Members of the Council considered and provided advice in relation to potential key performance indicators that could be used by the IFRS Foundation to monitor certain aspects of its work.
• Implications of the Brexit for the IFRS Foundation — The Members of the Council agreed that although there is a lot of uncertainty, there are no immediate matters that the IFRS Foundation needs to address.

The full report on the council’s October/November meeting is available on the IASB's website.

This issue features:

• Views from Dennis Jullens, Lecturer at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and a Capital Markets Advisory member.
• A look at the amendments to IFRS 4 arising from the implementation of IFRS 9.
• An update on the IASB work plan.
• In­for­ma­tion on current events and investor feedback.

The Investor Update newslet­ter is available on the IASB’s 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.

In a video interview with Robert Bruce, Mr. Druckman reflects on what has been achieved in that time under his leadership.

Probably his most important achievement over those years is how the concept of integrated thinking is now moving towards being a mainstream benefit of an integrated reporting system. Under Druckman’s vigorous encouragement the reporting system which companies operate has evolved into something which is not just a means of communicating what a company has done and how it has done it, but a lead motivator for change within companies. He sees it as part of what he calls "a new information architecture" which will sit well alongside and within changing attitudes in the corporate governance world. Once everything was geared around the financials, he says. Now we are seeing a broader form of value creation with integrated reporting, a multi-capital system, which will drive a more inclusive and responsible capitalism. It is no longer simply about trust and KPIs, or about delivering a broader based prosperity. It’s about all three. And, he underlines, the momentum is probably unstoppable.