The 2018 taxonomy reflects accounting standards issued during the past year as well as other corrections and improvements to the 2017 taxonomy.

Review the press release on the FASB’s Web site.

The IFRS Taxonomy 2018 is consistent with IFRS Standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (the Board) at January 1, 2018 and incorporates amendments made to the IFRS Taxonomy 2017 such as:

1. Applying IFRS 9 Financial Instruments with IFRS 4, Insurance Contracts (Amendments to IFRS 4), issued in September 2016,
2. IFRS 17, Insurance Contracts, issued in May 2017, and
3. Prepayment Features with Negative Compensation (Amendments to IFRS 9), issued in October 2017.

The IFRS Foundation has also published the IFRS Taxonomy Update — Annual Improvements and the IFRS Taxonomy Update — Prepayments Features with Negative Compensation (Amendments to IFRS 9). The IFRS Taxonomy 2018 incorporates the changes resulting from these two updates.

Review the press release and the IFRS Taxonomy 2018 page on the Board's website.

The issue now features:

• Spotlight — Timing and amount of revenue recognition (IFRS 15)
• In Profile — Interview with Zhenyi Tang, CMAC member
• Project updates
• Information on investor materials and current events

Review the updated Investor Update newsletter on the Board’s website.

This commitment followed the release of the results of the Government’s fall 2017 public consultation process, which revealed strong public support for the introduction of DPAs in Canada.

The availability of DPAs to address alleged corporate wrongdoing is potentially an extremely important development for the Canadian enforcement regime. Pursuing serious corporate wrongdoing typically requires the deployment of a very significant amount of resources; indeed, white collar investigations often require gathering and reviewing vast amounts of electronic and paper records, analyzing complex financial data, and to the extent the wrongdoings are international in scope, co-ordination with foreign law enforcement agencies (often against a politically charged back-drop).

The limits of law enforcement budgets in Canada are well-documented, and from a practical perspective, the availability of DPAs is likely to help ameliorate some of the strain on law enforcement resources by providing a means resolve corporate prosecutions without having to bear the enormous demands associated with pursing every case to trial (or else abandoning them entirely).

Review the full bulletin on Dentons' website.

Meeting ac­tiv­i­ties included the following:

• Executive session — The Trustees discussed a number of important strategic issues:
  • Trustee Corporate Governance Issues — The Trustees discussed issues related to governance and procedures.
  • Report of the Directors — The Trustees received a report which discussed highlights of the IFRS Foundation in the past three months.
  • Asia-Oceania Office Plan — The Trustees approved the Asia-Oceania’s 2018 work plan.
  • Analysis of Organisation expenditure — The Trustees received a report on total expenditure for 2017.
  • Trustee Meeting Locations — The Trustees agreed that Brussels will host the first meeting in 2019.
  • Committee reports — The Trustees discussed reports from the Audit and Finance Committee, the Education and Content Services Committee, the Human Capital Committee, the Nom­i­nat­ing Committee, and the DPOC.
    
    The DPOC session included an update on the International Accounting Standards Board's (the Board) technical activities as well as its due process actions. The DPOC also announced Ann Tarca will become Vice-Chair of the IFRS Taxonomy Consultative group. In addition, the DPOC approved a staff paper which outline the scope and timetable for the review of the Due Process Handbook.

• IASB^® Chairman’s report — The Chair of the IASB provided the Trustees with an update on the Board’s technical ac­tiv­i­ties, support for the implementation of IFRS 17, and the conceptual framework project.
• Meetings in Hong Kong — The Trustees received a presentation by the Advisory Council chair. In addition, the Trustees met with the Asian-Oceanian Standard-Setters Group and had a stakeholders event.

The full report on the IFRS Foun­da­tion trustees’ and DPOC meeting is available on the Board’s website.

The paper summarizes the Task Force’s final recommendations on future-oriented climate-related financial disclosures, identifies financial accounting standards and other mainstream reporting materials that could aid companies in responding to various aspects of the TCFD recommendations, and considers what more needs to be done and how to align the TCFD core elements and recommended disclosures with existing financial accounting standards and materials.

The paper focuses on IFRS 7, IFRS 9, IFRS 15, IFRS 17 and IAS 36 and IAS 37, exploring some of the main points applied to traditional financial instruments and how they could potentially help organisations disclose climate-related risks and opportunities within their mainstream reports.

Review the press release and the full report on the CDSB's website.

Striking progress has been made, particularly in relation to the quality of the data. Reports were found to be more consistent: this was one of the lowest-rated areas in last year's review project, but became one of the strongest this year.

There are also signs of a focus on conciseness. The length of reports has reduced: just under half (49%) of reports reviewed contain 100 pages or fewer (compared with 20% last year) excluding the financial statements.

Review the press release and report on the ACCA's website.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board issued its hedging standard last August, making it effective for public companies in 2019 and private companies in 2020, but also allowing for early adoption. The standard refines and expands hedge accounting for both financial risks, such as interest rates, and commodity risks.

Review the full article on Accounting Today's website.

IAS 29 "Financial Reporting in Hyperinflationary Economies" defines and provides general guidance for assessing whether a particular jurisdiction's economy is hyperinflationary. But the IASB does not identify specific jurisdictions. The International Practices Task Force (IPTF) of the Centre for Audit Quality (CAQ) monitors the status of "highly inflationary" countries. The Task Force's criteria for identifying such countries are similar to those for identifying "hyperinflationary economies" under IAS 29.

The IPTF's discussion document for the November 21, 2017 meeting is now available and states the following view of the Task Force:

Countries with three-year cumulative inflation rates exceeding 100%:

• South Sudan
• Suriname
• Venezuela

Countries with projected three-year cumulative inflation rates exceeding 100%:

• Angola
• Libya
• Argentina

Countries where the three-year cumulative inflation rates had exceeded 100% in recent years:

• Sudan

Countries with recent three-year cumulative inflation rates exceeding 100% after a spike in inflation in a discrete period:

• Ukraine

Countries with projected three-year cumulative inflation rates between 70% and 100% or with a significant (25% or more) increase in inflation during the current period

• Democratic Republic of Kongo
• Egypt
• Yemen

Review the press release and full list, including exact numbers, detailed explanations of the calculation of the numbers, and observations of the Task Force on the CAQ's website.

More than 260 French-speaking organizations use the GRI framework to produce sustainability reports that clearly show their economic, social and environmental impacts. And with the change from G4 Guidelines to GRI’s Sustainability Reporting Standards (GRI Standards), these organizations can work with a new clear, modular model to help them improve on their reporting.

Review the press release and the French translations on the GRI's website.