Businesses are using DLT in a variety of ways. DLT may be used as the underlying technology in trading, clearing and settling securities.

“Many uses of distributed ledger technologies have the potential to increase transparency and efficiencies in our capital markets, and we are keen to support this type of innovation,” said Pat Chaukos, Chief of OSC LaunchPad. “Because this is a novel area, businesses may not be aware that some uses of this technology could trigger securities law requirements. We encourage these businesses to speak with us about securities law and investor protection requirements that may apply.”

Review the press release on the OSC's website.

The data was compiled from public documents filed on SEDAR and includes the name, industry and year-end of the 677 non-venture issuers with year-ends between December 31, 2015 and March 31, 2016 as it relates to women on boards and in executive officer positions.

Review the press release and the underlying data used to prepare CSA Multilateral Staff Notice 58-308 on the CSA's website.

These financial statements illustrate the presentation and disclosure requirements of IFRSs for the year ended December 31, 2016 by an entity that is not a first-time adopter of IFRSs and early adopts IFRS 9, Financial Instruments.

The publication includes:

• Section 1 — New and revised IFRSs for 2016 annual financial statements and beyond
• Section 2 — Model financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2016
• Appendix 1 — Early application of IFRS 9 Financial Instruments (as revised in July 2014)

Mr. Kabureck noted that the IASB would begin addressing non-GAAP earnings measures in its research project on primary financial statements. However, he stated that “[t]he challenge for us is to put some order and structure into the reporting of financial performance while simultaneously providing relevant information that faithfully represents the performance of the company.” Some of the challenges include EBIT, income before non-recurring items, income from core operations, and operating profit. Next, he provided three possible philosophical approaches when determining the composition of an alternative performance measure. These approaches included:

• Explicit requirements for composition.
• Managerial approach similar to segment reporting.
• Principles-based approach.

Finally, he discussed accounting policy disclosures that are being considered by the IASB.

Review the article on the IASB’s website.

The working drafts address the following topics:

• Unit of account in design, development, and production contracts (aerospace and defense)
• Costs associated with underwriting (broker-dealers)
• Costs associated with investment banking advisory services (broker-dealers)
• Tariff sales to regulated customers (power and utilities)
• Management fees (time shares)

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

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

The amendments will require issuers to include a hyperlink to each exhibit in the filing’s exhibit index.  Currently, someone seeking to retrieve and access an exhibit that has been incorporated by reference must review the exhibit index to determine the filing in which the exhibit is included, and then must search through the registrant’s filings to locate the relevant filing.

The final rules will take effect on September 1, 2017.

Review the press release on the SEC's website.

“We have seen 1,500 global companies adopt Integrated Reporting around the world, with its implementation already becoming mainstream in countries such as Japan and South Africa,” said IIRC CEO Richard Howitt in a statement. “This rapid adoption demonstrates the market view of the International <IR> Framework as a ground-breaking and beneficial tool. It’s now time for us to further assess how this tool is being used to assist the quality of the reporting, reinforce its relevance to new challenges and ensure it remains fully in tune with market needs.”

The IIRC also plans to convene focus groups around the world, in Australia, India, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Malaysia, Singapore, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States, with other locations to be announced later. The IIRC is asking for feedback by April 30, 2017.

Review the press release on the IIRC's website.

Foreign private issuers that prepare their financial statements in accordance with IFRS as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board may begin immediately to submit their financial statements in XBRL. Otherwise, all such foreign private issuers must submit their financial statements in XBRL for fiscal periods ending on or after December 15, 2017.

Review the press release and the notice on the SEC's website.

The recommendations are part of the SEC’s disclosure modernization initiative. iXBRL combines human readable HTML and machine readable XBRL in a single report. If adopted, it means that it will be easier to access and easier to understand, consume and analyse quarterly and annual financial statements in the United States. It will also mean the end of “dual filing” that has existed since 2009, in which a plain, unstructured HTML version of the disclosure was filed at (more or less) the same time as a structured XBRL version was submitted. And it means that the SEC in the US joins other major securities regulators including the JFSA in Japan, and ESMA, which governs disclosure regulation across Europe, in moving to use iXBRL to make fundamental data more suitable for the digital age.

The SEC also announced on March 1, 2017, that Foreign Private Issuers” (FPIs) can now use the IFRS taxonomy to file their financial statements in XBRL or Inline XBRL format. International businesses affected by this new ruling are advised to speak to their software vendor, filing agent or professional advisers about filing in iXBRL rather than XBRL so that they don’t have to switch again later.

Review the press release on the SEC's website.

In addition, the podcast features (1) updates on the recent meeting between the IASB, IFRS Foundation Trustees, and the IFRS Foundation Monitoring Board, (2) feedback on the proposed changes to the definition of a business consultation, (3) discussion on rate-regulated activities, (4) symmetric prepayment options comment period, and (5) sweep issues discussion on the new insurance contracts.

Review the press release on the IASB's website.