The working drafts address the following topics:

• Regional contracts (airlines).
• The timing for recognition of a wide-area progressive operator’s liability for base progressive and incremental progressive jackpot amounts (gaming).
• Consideration of the new revenue standard in connection with third-party settlement estimates (health care).
• Miscellaneous fees (telecommunications).

Comments on the working drafts are due by September 1, 2017.

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

The April 20, 2017 CSA Staff Notice 45-323 (the “Staff Notice”), Update on Use of the Rights Offering Exemption in National Instrument 45-106 – Prospectus Exemptions, indicates that during the first year following adoption of the new rules, reporting issuers’ use of prospectus-exempt rights offerings had more than doubled.

The Staff Notice also notes key disclosure issues related to rights offerings under the new rules which need to be addressed. These issues relate to inadequate disclosures in certain filings in respect of: (i) stand-by commitments; (ii) use of available funds; and (iii) closing news release.

For fur­ther de­tails re­fer to the Staff Notice on the CSA’s website.

Dis­cus­sion points in­cluded:

• Introduction and Opening Remarks
• Part C of the Code
• Structure of the Code
• Safeguards
• Fees
• Professional Skepticism
• Part C - Applicability

Re­view the high­lights on the IESBA's Web site.

Mr. Mohin is six months into his role as chief executive officer of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the world’s most widely used sustainability reporting framework, with a mission to encourage more firms to report on the progress they’re making to report on their economic, environmental, and social impact.

Despite rapid growth in the uptake of sustainability reporting, companies often gripe about the extra workload that comes with the need to report, while critics wonder if the practice really brings about positive change in the world.

In this conversation with Eco-Business, Mohin talks about how effective sustainability reporting is at driving real change, its relevance for small to medium-size enterprises in Asia, the danger of companies using sustainability reports to greenwash, and what he calls the “transformative power of transparency.”

Review the article on Eco-Business' website and the GRI Sustainability Disclosure Database on the GRI's website.

Permitting all companies to submit registration statements for non-public review, similar to the benefit used by emerging growth companies (EGC) under the JOBS Act, will provide companies with more flexibility to plan their offering. The non-public review process after the IPO reduces the potential for lengthy exposure to market fluctuations that can adversely affect the offering process and harm existing public shareholders. By requiring a public filing period prior to the launch of marketing, the process incorporates a feature of the EGC review process that provides an opportunity for the public to evaluate those offerings.

Review the press release and the full announcement on the SEC's website.

In 2017, PCAOB inspectors are focusing on audit areas and attestation procedures where inspectors previously found deficiencies, including auditor independence, engagement quality reviews, and certain areas of the financial statement audit (including revenue, the assessment and response to risks of material misstatement due to fraud, financial statement presentation and disclosure, fair value measurements, and related party transactions).

During the 2017 inspection cycle, the PCAOB plans to inspect 75 firms that audit broker-dealers, covering portions of 115 audits and the related attestation engagements for these broker-dealers. That number includes four firms that audit more than 100 broker-dealers, 16 firms that audit 21 to 100 broker-dealers, and 55 firms that audit one to 20 broker-dealers.  .

Re­view the press release and the staff inspection brief on the PCAOB's web­site.

There is a time when every­thing suddenly comes into focus. This is what appears to be happening in the field of social and human capital accounting. The business benefits are becoming clear and the practical ways to achieve them are moving into the main­stream. Social and human capitals are, in­evitably, seen as more sub­jec­tive than other capitals like financial, natural and man­u­fac­tured capitals. It was always going to take more time before they reached broad ac­cep­tance and ease of practical usage. But the launch and pub­li­ca­tion of the CFO Lead­er­ship Network’s Essential Guide to Social and Human Capital Accounting, under the aegis of the Prince of Wales’ Accounting for Sus­tain­abil­ity project, looks to be the long-awaited catalyst. It provides the tools and the guidance but, more im­por­tantly, it details case studies of what busi­nesses have already achieved. This is the body of practical ex­pe­ri­ence that or­gan­i­za­tions and business need.

It is a question of recog­niz­ing the role of social and human capital accounting, measuring its effects, and bringing it forward into de­ci­sion-mak­ing. Done properly this creates a rev­o­lu­tion. Pre­vi­ously unseen figures and factors change the thinking around a business. Examples abound in the Guide. British Land tackled skill shortages. National Grid invested in employee wellbeing and found that for every £1 invested it was getting back more than £2 return in reduced sickness absence costs. The Crown Estate set up a part­ner­ship to help job­seek­ers into sus­tain­able em­ploy­ment. It produced some £40m of societal value through savings on welfare and tax credits, increased tax and national insurance payments, and boosting local economies. All of these came from looking at the business from a different stand­point, through a new lens.

Read the entire column on our Global IAS Plus website.

The scope of the publication, Goodwill Impairment: Can it be improved? is limited to impairment testing and it does not seek to address broader topics such as identification and measurement of acquired intangible assets in a business combination or the extent to which these should be separated from or subsumed into goodwill. Ideas presented in the paper focus on how to allocate goodwill to CGUs, when to determine the recoverable amount, and how to determine the recoverable amount. EFRAG asks European constituents for their views on the advantages and disadvantages of the potential amendments presented in this context.

Re­view the press re­lease on EFRAG's web­site. The deadline for comments to EFRAG is December 31, 2017.

Mr Hooger­vorst began by noting that although fostering financial stability is not the primary goal of accounting standards, the trans­parency of financial state­ments resulting from the accounting standards is a "crucial in­gre­di­ent for achieving financial stability". He discussed the work of the IASB in recent years to issue standards that lead to high-qual­ity accounting, which then leads to better insights of a company's per­for­mance, the ability to discover problems more timely and an early warning system to detect changes in a company's risks and per­for­mance, amongst other benefits.

In addition, Mr Hooger­vorst talked about IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts that was issued about one month ago and how it is finally an international standard that will reduce the in­com­pa­ra­bil­ity between national GAAPs for insurance. He also noted that IFRS 17 will improve financial stability in six areas:

First of all, the insurance liability will be properly measured and regularly updated, giving much better in­for­ma­tion. The build-up of un­sus­tain­able equity positions will become visible much more quickly.

Second, the cost of options and guar­an­tees will be regularly updated and fully reflected in the financial state­ments.

Third, companies will also provide updated in­for­ma­tion on the risk margin they hold for their insurance products.

Fourth, the losses embedded in onerous groups of contracts will have to be recog­nized im­me­di­ately. Contracts can be grouped, but in a way that ensures that the losses embedded in onerous groups of contracts will not be averaged with groups of prof­itable contracts.

Fifth, IFRS 17 ends up-front profit taking and revenue will only be recog­nized as the service is provided.

Finally, IFRS 17 will also make it easier for investors to judge the per­for­mance of any insurance company. Currently, many investors base their analysis on Solvency II, which is the pru­den­tial standard for the European Union. But Solvency II is almost entirely focused on the balance sheet. It makes no dis­tinc­tion between profits earned in the past and profits to be earned in the future. It does not convey in­for­ma­tion about prof­itabil­ity over time.

In his remarks about the IASB's role in improving com­mu­ni­ca­tion through financial reporting, Mr Hooger­vorst noted that this will be a central theme in the IASB's work plan. Instead of working on major cross-cut­ting Standards, the Board will focus on improving the primary financial state­ments, making dis­clo­sures more effective and improving the com­pa­ra­bil­ity and use of non-GAAP measures.

A full tran­script of Mr Hooger­vorst's remarks is available on the IASB website.

The final report follows on a con­sul­ta­tion document published in December 2016. The con­sul­ta­tion document saw 320 unique responses from re­spon­dents in 30 countries, including 15 of the G20 ju­ris­dic­tions. The four widely adoptable rec­om­men­da­tions on cli­mate-re­lated financial dis­clo­sures that are ap­plic­a­ble to or­gan­i­za­tions across sectors and ju­ris­dic­tions were widely supported and remain unchanged:

• Gov­er­nance: Dis­clo­sure of the organization’s gov­er­nance around cli­mate-re­lated risks and op­por­tu­ni­ties
• Strategy: Dis­clo­sure of the actual and potential impacts of cli­mate-re­lated risks and op­por­tu­ni­ties on the organization’s busi­nesses, strategy, and financial planning
• Risk man­age­ment: Dis­clo­sure of how the organization iden­ti­fies, assesses, and manages cli­mate-re­lated risks
• Metrics and targets: Dis­clo­sure of the metrics and targets used to assess and manage relevant cli­mate-re­lated risks and op­por­tu­ni­tiesThe following ad­di­tional in­for­ma­tion is available on the FSB website:
• Key features of the rec­om­men­da­tions are that they are adoptable by all or­gan­i­za­tions, should be included in main­stream financial filings, are designed to solicit de­ci­sion-use­ful, for­ward-look­ing in­for­ma­tion on financial impacts, and have a strong focus on risks and op­por­tu­ni­ties related to the tran­si­tion to a lower-car­bon economy. The TCFD also rec­om­mends the dis­clo­sure of potential impacts of cli­mate-re­lated risks and op­por­tu­ni­ties under different potential scenarios, including a 2° Celsius scenario.

• Final report Rec­om­men­da­tions of the Task Force on Cli­mate-re­lated Financial Dis­clo­sures
• Press release
• Summary of the feedback received on the con­sul­ta­tion document