Both Tuff and Goldbach have learned one sure thing after decades of working with different companies: Relying on best practices does not guarantee future success. Today’s accelerated speed of change means that business leaders need to ditch old habits and bring a fresh perspective to their operations if they want to get to the top and stay there.

Tuff emphasizes:

When change accelerates and we can no longer rely on the lessons of the past to do things well, that’s where best practices become really dangerous.

Review the transcript of the conversation and podcast on Wharton's website.

U.S. public companies with fiscal years ending December 31st have now adopted the new revenue recognition standard (ASC 606) and applied it for the first time to their quarterly reports. What work is left to do? As public companies continue to better understand the nuances of the new revenue recognition standard, the issue of disclosures remains a critical pain point for CFOs. Benchmarking can be extremely helpful. But what steps can companies take if they find their revenue recognition practices are out of line with what others are doing?

Refer to the article in FEI Daily for details of Deloitte Partner, Eric Knachel’s comments.

Specifically, the technology initiative will investigate how automation, AI, and the consumption of big data may affect accounting, financial reporting, standard-setting process, and stakeholder engagement.

Review the press release on the IASB’s website.

The reports analyze the disclosures in a sample of companies’ June 2018 interim reports in relation to the adoption of the new standards and provide examples of better practice in explaining their effect.

The FRC’s review identified a number of areas where disclosure could be improved especially with respect to explanations of the impact of adoption of IFRS 15. It highlights that the best disclosures were those that were specific to the company and that provided additional detail for the benefit of providing a relevant and robust explanation of the impact of IFRS 15.

The main impact of IFRS 9 will be felt by banks and the FRC thematic review focused on the adequacy of disclosures regarding the effect of the transition to IFRS 9 in the first year of adoption. The FRC review highlights some areas where disclosure could be improved and some areas where no disclosure had been provided at all. In particular, the FRC highlights that some smaller banks did not sufficiently explain the impact of adopting IFRS 9.

Review the following additional information on the FRC's website:

• Press release
• IFRS 9 thematic review
• IFRS 15 thematic review

The two bulletins cover (1) the classification criteria included in the DP and (2) the presentation and disclosure requirements included in the DP.

Review the press release and bulletins on the EFRAG's website.

Specifically, the project summary provides the following information:

• At a glance — a high-level look at why the board performed this research, summary of findings, and feedback and conclusions.
• Sources of information — sources used by the staff to conduct their research.
• Research findings — summaries on variety and complexity of terms and conditions of share-based payments, grant-date fair value measurement, and disclosures.
• Feedback on research findings and conclusions.
• Measurement models in IFRS 2.
• A look at what the information required by IFRS 2 tell users of financial statements.
• Implications of other projects and IFRS Standards to IFRS2.

Review the press release and project summary on the Board's website.

Changes and reasoning behind the changes

The changes in Definition of Material (Amendments to IAS 1 and IAS 8) all relate to a revised definition of "material" which is quoted below from the final amendments:

Information is material if omitting, misstating or obscuring it could reasonably be expected to influence decisions that the primary users of general purpose financial statements make on the basis of those financial statements, which provide financial information about a specific reporting entity.

Three new aspects of the new definition should especially be noted:

• Obscuring. The existing definition only focused on omitting or misstating information, however, the Board concluded that obscuring material information with information that can be omitted can have a similar effect. Although the term obscuring is new in the definition, it was already part of IAS 1 (IAS 1.30A).
• Could reasonably be expected to influence. The existing definition referred to "could influence" which the Board felt might be understood as requiring too much information as almost anything "could" influence the decisions of some users even if the possibility is remote.
• Primary users. The existing definition referred only to "users" which again the Board feared might be understood too broadly as requiring to consider all possible users of financial statements when deciding what information to disclose.

During redeliberations, the Board spent a lot of time on discussing what constitutes obscuring information. The amendments stress especially five ways material information can be obscured:

• if the language regarding a material item, transaction or other event is vague or unclear;
• if information regarding a material item, transaction or other event is scattered in different places in the financial statements;
• if dissimilar items, transactions or other events are inappropriately aggregated;
• if similar items, transactions or other events are inappropriately disaggregated; and
• if material information is hidden by immaterial information to the extent that it becomes unclear what information is material.

The new definition of material and the accompanying explanatory paragraphs are contained in IAS 1, Presentation of Financial Statements. The definition of material in IAS 8, Accounting Policies, Changes in Accounting Estimates and Errors has been replaced with a reference to IAS 1.

Effective date

The amendments are effective for annual reporting periods beginning on or after January 1, 2020. Earlier application is permitted.

Additional information

Review the press release on the Board's website.

The ASAF is comprised of 12 members and a non-voting chair. The new composition is as follows:

Review the press release on the IASB's website.

Ms. Tarca's speech was a tour d'horizon covering:

• development of a set of global standards for use in the world’s capital markets (2001–2005);
• the convergence program with the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and impact of the global financial crisis (2006–2009);
• working on the major standards (2010–2013); and
• implementation of the major standards and the better communication initiative (2014 onwards).

Review the transcript of her speech on the IASB's website.

The final rule aligns the property disclosure requirements for mining registrants and related guidance with current industry and global regulatory practices and standards. The amendments are designed to help investors “make more informed investment decisions”  about registrants’ mining properties.

The SEC has adopted a “two-year transition period so that a registrant will not begin to comply with the new rules until its first fiscal year beginning on or after Jan. 1, 2021.”

Review the press release and final rule on the SEC’s website.