The Consultation Paper discusses challenges faced by the Canadian Public Accountability Board (CPAB) in accessing audit work performed in certain foreign jurisdictions. The Consultation Paper describes a CPAB request for the CSA to amend National Instrument 52-108 Auditor Oversight to require certain audit firms involved in the audit of a reporting issuer’s financial statements to register as a participating audit firm. This requested amendment would assist CPAB in accessing audit working papers in most foreign jurisdictions.

CSA staff is also considering potential disclosure enhancements to provide stakeholders with information about situations where CPAB has been prevented from inspecting audit work performed.

Comments should be submitted in writing by June 24, 2017.

Review the press release and the Consultation Paper on the CSA's website.

The preparation and disclosure of more accounting items is complicated because it requires greater knowledge of authoritative accounting standards. This aspect of complexity can increase the likelihood of mistakes, incorrect application of GAAP, and can ultimately lead to less credible financial reports. Consistently, we find that ARC is associated with a greater likelihood of misstatements and material weakness disclosures, longer audit delay, and higher audit fees.

Review the paper on the SSRN's website.

Based on their analysis of these comment letters, they have identified a number of areas of SEC staff focus during this period, in descending order of frequency:

• Failure to present GAAP measure with equal or greater prominence (C&DI 102.10)
• Inadequate explanation of usefulness of non-GAAP measure
• Misleading adjustments, such as exclusion of normal, recurring cash expenses (C&DI 100.01)
• Inadequate presentation of income tax effects of non-GAAP measure (C&DI 102.11)
• Individually tailored revenue recognition or measurement methods (C&DI 100.04)
• Misleading title or description of non-GAAP measure
• Use of per share liquidity measures (C&DI 102.05)

Review the publication on the Sullivan & Cromwell LLP's website.

COSO will work with WBCSD to develop interpretive guidance on how to embed sustainable development issues into COSO’s Enterprise Risk Management Framework as a foundation to bridge the gap between the way companies consider sustainability issues in their risk management processes and how they disclose these risks to investors, facilitating effective decision making within and out with the company.

Review the press release on the COSO's website.

The Consultation Paper identifies and seeks input on potential options for reducing regulatory burden associated with capital raising in the public markets and the ongoing costs of remaining a reporting issuer. These options include:

• expanding the application of streamlined rules for smaller reporting issuers;
• reducing the regulatory burden associated with prospectus rules and the offering process;
• reducing certain ongoing disclosure requirements;
• eliminating overlap in potentially duplicative regulatory requirements; and
• enhancing the electronic delivery of documents.

Comments should be submitted in writing by July 7, 2017.

Review the press release and the Consultation Paper on the CSA's website.

The Revised Amendments are a revision to proposed amendments that were originally published for comment by the TSX on May 26, 2016, in response to comments received on that previous proposal.

Review an analysis on the Blakes' website.

The most significant news in this year’s budget is the absence of new taxes or fees. Equally important, there were no increases to existing taxes or fees. This budget was the exact opposite of the 2016-2017 budget, which contained increases to both taxes and fees in many areas.

The announced changes to taxation in Newfoundland and Labrador are outlined in our Canadian tax alert.

For further details, we refer you to the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador website.

The CSA hosted a roundtable on February 27, 2017 to explore cyber security issues and opportunities for greater collaboration, communication and coordination in the event of a large-scale cyber security incident.

Participants focused on the importance of robust Incident Response Plans (IRPs) for entities, including entities that may be indirectly affected by a cyber incident.

Review the press release and Notice on the CSA's website.

The statement stresses that the BCBS supports the use of expected credit loss (ECL) accounting approaches and encourages their application in a manner that will achieve earlier recognition of credit losses than incurred loss models while also providing incentives for banks to follow sound credit risk management practices. Still, the BCBS notes that the implementation of ECL accounting is likely to have fundamental implications for the regulatory capital and banks’ provisioning practices in qualitative and quantitative ways.

In view of the limited time until the effective date of IFRS 9 (January 1, 2018), the BCBS has therefore decided to retain the current regulatory treatment of provisions under the Basel framework for an interim period. In the meantime, the BCBS will thoroughly review the longer-term regulatory treatment of provisions. The statement also notes that jurisdictions may adopt transitional arrangements to smooth any potential significant negative impact on regulatory capital arising from the introduction of ECL accounting.

Review the BCBS statement on the Bank for International Settlements' (BIS) website.