"Across the markets we serve, TMX has moved to partner with our clients to seek out new solutions and effect positive change," said Nick Thadaney, President & CEO, Global Equity Capital Markets, TMX Group. "We've seen tremendous interest from our equities markets clients in expanding to four character symbols and, with valuable support from other service providers, we have responded to meet their needs. Providing greater choice on our Exchanges remains a top priority for TMX and we look forward to exploring new opportunities to broaden our solutions and services and lead Canada's markets into the future."

Review the press release on the TMX Group's website.

The new definitions will be introduced over the next five years, in order to provide sufficient time for suggestions and comment from market participants. The changes will not result in new standards, but will require the board to overhaul existing ones.

Firms that decide against adopting the new IASB definition for ebit, for example, could be required to reconcile their own ebit calculation into one based on the IASB’s definition.

Review a summary on the Wall Street Journal's website and the IASB's five-year work plan on the IASB's website.

The Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting identified 15 actions to address BEPS in a comprehensive manner. Recognizing that the actions to counter BEPS must be complemented with actions that ensure certainty and predictability for business, Action 14 calls for effective dispute resolution mechanisms to resolve tax treaty-related disputes. The BEPS package endorsed by the G20 Finance Ministers in October 2015 contains the report on Action 14 (Making Dispute Resolution Mechanisms More Effective), which outlines the minimum standards and best practices for resolving treaty-related disputes under the Mutual Agreement Procedure (MAP).

The documents released form the basis on which this process will be moving forward. The compilation includes the Terms of Reference which translate the minimum standard approved in the final Action 14 report into a basis for peer review; the Assessment Methodology for the peer review and monitoring process and the MAP statistics reporting framework which reflects the collaborative approach competent authorities will take to resolve MAP cases and will ensure greater transparency on statistical information relating to the inventory, types and outcome of MAP cases through common reporting of MAP cases going forward and Guidance on information and documentation to be submitted with a MAP request.

Through rigorous peer reviews and continual collection of data, the Action 14 BEPS deliverables seek to eliminate taxation not in accordance with treaty provisions and help resolve any tax-treaty related disputes in a timely and efficient manner. The involvement of the Inclusive Framework throughout the peer review process ensures that the effort to streamline MAP incorporates the experience of both developing and developed countries. The peer review and monitoring process will be conducted by the FTA MAP Forum, with all members participating on an equal footing.

The review will take place on the basis of the existing treaties and there is no requirement for jurisdictions to negotiate any new treaties. Furthermore, the methodology released contains the possibility for developing countries to defer the peer review, recognizing their capacity constraints and often relatively small MAP pipeline.

Consistent with its efforts to enhance transparency, the OECD will also publish updated MAP profiles of all members of the Inclusive Framework, which contain information about each member's Competent Authorities' contact details, domestic guidelines for MAP and other useful information for both tax authorities and taxpayers. The actual peer reviews will be conducted in batches, with the first batch commencing in December 2016. We will be seeking taxpayer input before the launch of these reviews and a questionnaire for taxpayer input seeking such input will be published shortly, together with a schedule for review.

Review the key documents on the OECD's website.

The implementation of MI 45-108 follows the recent adoption of ASC Rule 45-517 Prospectus Exemption for Start-up Businesses (ASC Rule 45-517), which was introduced to help facilitate Alberta-based small or start-up issuers seeking to raise modest amounts of capital from Alberta investors. MI 45-108 is viewed to be complementary with ASC Rule 45-517 and is designed to accommodate moderate financings being raised strictly through an online funding portal across multiple jurisdictions in Canada.

Review the press release on the ASC's website.

In his speech, he discusses some of the current priorities of the PCAOB, a number of which are outlined in the Board's five year strategic plan.

The topics discussed are as follows:

Role of the Independent Auditor

• Investors are the Auditor's True Client
• Re-emergence of Concerns about Auditor Independence
• State of Audit Quality
• Improper Alteration of Audit Documentation
• PCAOB's Standard-Setting Activities
• Auditor's Reporting Model
• Technological Innovation in the Audit

In his conclusion, he encourages auditors to strive to improve audit quality, be vigilant in protecting independence from management, and not lose sight that the client is the investing public.

Review the speech on the PCAOB's website.

Changes to the work plan include:

Major projects

• No significant changes

Implementation projects

• A new project Property, Plant and Equipment: Proceeds before Intended Use has been added to the work plan as a consequence of the discussion of IFRS implementation issues this week. An exposure draft is expected after 6 months.
• Annual Improvements (2015-2017): An exposure draft is now expected in January 2017

Research projects

• Disclosure initiative — Principles of disclosure: A discussion paper is now expected in February 2017. During this week's meeting, the Staff revised the expected publication date of the discussion paper from mid-December 2016 to February 2017 in order to provide the Board with more time to focus on matters relating to the draft insurance standard.

Post-implementation reviews

• A decision on the project direction in the post-implementation review of IFRS 13 Fair Value Measurement is now expected within 3 months.

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

In announcing the G7‘s fundamental principles, the European Commission recognised the work of the G7 Cyber Expert Group in responding to the increasingly sophisticated cyber threats being faced by the financial sector.

The G7's fundamental principles are designed to assist both private and public sector financial entities in addressing the risks of cyber-attacks against such financial organisations. It is also expected that these fundamental principles will assist public authorities in steering any public policy, regulatory or supervisory obligations.

The report consists of eight non-binding elements that are intended to provide high-level guidance to support financial entities in creating cyber security strategy and policies.

Review a summary and the report on the European Commission's website.

In his speech, Mr. Bauguess explains that just because we have a lot of data, that doesn't ensure that there will be an application for it all. And big data can’t fix bad empirical methods, and bad data can’t be analyzed no matter how big it is. Data quality remains important no matter its size. So, we continue to need to think carefully about how we collect data. And just as we did in assembling small data samples in a prior era, we need to do the same when generating large samples today.

Review the speech on the SEC's website.