The report, sponsored by Deloitte, interviews industry leaders, academics and practitioners regarding their hopes distributed ledger technology. The paper also includes a survey of of financial leaders regarding the current use of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and their plans to adopt blockchain solutions in the future.

Review the highlights from the report's survey on FEI's website.

The FASB’s Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, provides a comprehensive revenue recognition model intended to reduce the complexity inherent in today’s guidance by increasing financial statement comparability across companies and industries.

Review the article on FEI's website.

The Insurance Companies Act stipulates in the case of federally regulated insurers (FRIs) that “financial statements shall, except as otherwise specified by the Superintendent, be prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, the primary source of which is the Handbook of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants.”

Generally Accepted Accounting Principles for FRIs is effectively International Financial Reporting Standards as issued by the IASB. OSFI may specify additional accounting guidance or disclosure requirements, or require FRIs to use a specific option within an applicable accounting standard. OSFI makes these specifications in situations where there is a prudential need for additional accounting guidance.

To support FRIs in their transition to IFRS 17, OSFI issued an advisory regarding:

• the option to early adopt IFRS 17;
• accounting for financial guarantee contracts; and
• semi-annual progress reporting to OSFI.

Review the press release and the advisory on the OSFI's website.

Review the speech on the SEC's website and an interview on Merrill Corporation's website.

Mr. Bricker told the attendees at Baruch College’s Financial Reporting Conference in New York: “With non-GAAP and other disclosures, our rules require that companies must have disclosure controls and procedures, which typically would include appropriate governance practices regarding the measures and policies and controls that prevent error, manipulation, or mischief with the numbers, including a policy that addresses how any changes in the non-GAAP measure will be reported and how corrections of errors will be evaluated”.

Review the full article on Accounting Today's website.

Board member Françoise Flores and technical staff provide an overview of the revised Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting, followed by a Q&A session.

Please click to access the recording here.

The graphs consist of a blueprint illustrating the participants in the financial reporting process; a flow chart showing a simplified version of the blueprint; and a segment chart outlining the reporting requirements for domestic issuers, foreign private issuers, and private companies.

The proposed rule would “refocus the analysis that must be conducted to determine whether an auditor is independent when the auditor has a lending relationship with certain shareholders of an audit client at any time during an audit or professional engagement period.”

The working drafts address the following topics:

• Gaming entities’ accounting for management contract revenues, including costs reimbursed by managed properties (gaming)
• Contract modifications (telecommunications)

Comments on the working drafts are due by July 2, 2018.

For more information, see the revenue recognition page on the AICPA’s Web site.

Based on a summary by Torys LLP, the key reforms affecting public CBCA corporations are diversity disclosure, majority voting requirements and internet posting of meeting materials (notice-and-access).

Diversity Disclosure

The draft CBCA regulations impose diversity disclosure requirements under a "comply-or-explain" model consistent with Canadian securities laws.

Majority Voting

One of the key features of the draft CBCA majority voting regulations includes that shareholders would be able to vote "for" or "against" each director, and a director would not be elected if he or she failed to receive majority support at an uncontested meeting.

Internet Posting of Meeting Materials (Notice-and-Access)

The notice-and-access regime under securities laws permits meeting materials, including the information circular, financial statements and MD&A, to be posted on an issuer's website, with only the notice of meeting and voting card being delivered to shareholders. The draft CBCA regulations are consistent with this, so CBCA corporations would no longer need an exemption from the Director to adopt notice-and-access.

Review a summary on Torys website and the Royal Assent on Parliament of Canada's website.