This issue of Investor Perspective features:

• An examination of capitalization tables;
• A closer look at the IASB's projects on Conceptual Framework and financial instruments with characteristics of equity;
• A solicitation for ideas on "more efficient and effective way for investors and lenders to obtain a comprehensive picture of the rights and obligations created by a company’s liability and equity claims"; and
• Recent resources related to disclosure effectiveness.

For more information, see the June 2016 edition of the Investor Perspectives newsletter on the IASB’s website.

Over the coming months and years, there will be significant changes to the political landscape. In the short term, the government is likely to set up a cross-departmental task force in order to negotiate Britain’s exit from the EU.

To counteract the immediate negative shock to the economy, it is likely that a number of policy measures will be announced. The government could introduce some pro-business measures in an emergency budget, ease fiscal deficit cuts and temporarily suspend its fiscal rules and the Bank of England’s inflation target.

The medium-term impact on the economy is harder to assess and will depend largely on the pace and success of the government’s negotiations with the EU and on future access to the single market.

In the longer term, economic activity will be determined by a combination of the nature of the UK’s post-exit trade relationship with the EU and its ability to exploit its newfound freedom to forge individual trade deals with emerging markets outside the EU.

Review our Initial Response to the EU Referendum released by our UK firm: Explore the effects of Brexit on business and the economy.

Deloitte UK offers a website dedicated to the EU referendum and its result offering insight papers, perspectives and access to webinars on what this change can mean.

Changes to the work plan include:

Major projects

• No changes made to major projects.

Im­ple­men­ta­tion projects

• Annual Improvements (2015-2017): A decision on the direction of the project is now expected within 3 months.
• Remeasurement at a Plan Amendment, Curtailment or Settlement / Availability of a Refund of a Surplus from a Defined Benefit Plan: A decision on the direction of the project is now expected within 3 months.
• Draft IFRIC Interpretation — Uncertainty over Income Tax Treatment: A decision on the direction of the project is now expected within 3 months.
• Draft IFRIC In­ter­pre­ta­tion — Foreign Currency Trans­ac­tions and Advance Con­sid­er­a­tion: A final interpretation is now expected within 6 months.

In addition, the work plan indicates that the exposure drafts on the definition of a business and on the remeasurement of previously held interests are expected to be released next week.

The revised IASB's work plan is available on the IASB's website.

Visit the CFO’s corner in Deloitte’s Centre for Financial Reporting to read this editorial as well as any previous articles that you may have missed.

The guideline also incorporates a number of OSFI’s existing accounting and disclosure guidelines related to financial instruments.

Review the press release and Guideline on the OSFI's Web site.

The debate over which accounting standards philosophy is better—principles or rules—has persisted for decades with no end in sight. It’s a healthy debate. Principles written at too high a level result in issues with comparability and other challenges but excessive rules result in unnecessary complexity and invite structuring.

Having spent 40 years in this space as a US auditor and preparer and for several years as an IASB member, I have the benefit of seeing this issue from several perspectives, and I have no doubt that a principle-based approach to establishing accounting standards is, without question, the better way to go.

However a principle-based approach is only successful when several pre-conditions are present—some technical, some mindset—which is the focus of this article.

Read the editorial on the IASB's Web site.

The amendments, which were developed through the IFRS Interpretations Committee, provide requirements on the accounting for:

• the effects of vesting and non-vesting conditions on the measurement of cash-settled share-based payments;
• share-based payment transactions with a net settlement feature for withholding tax obligations; and
• a modification to the terms and conditions of a share-based payment that changes the classification of the transaction from cash-settled to equity-settled.

Companies are required to apply the amendments for annual periods beginning on or after January 1, 2018. Earlier application is permitted.

Further information about the amendments—Classification and Measurement of Share-based Payment Transactions (Amendments to IFRS 2)—can be on the IASB's Web site.

Under the program, whistleblowers benefit from informer privilege as soon as a wrongdoing is reported. Investigators are trained specifically to respond to the issues faced by whistleblowers and make every effort to maintain the confidentiality of the information and the documents received, as well as the whistleblower’s identity.

Review the press release and program on the AMF's Web site.

The proposal revises the property disclosure requirements for mining registrants and related guidance “by aligning them with current industry and global regulatory practices and standards.” The purpose of the revisions is to help investors understand registrants’ mining properties so that they can “make more informed investment decisions.”

Foreign private issuers that use Form 20-F to file their Exchange Act registration statements and annual reports, or that refer to Form 20-F when filing their Securities Act registration statements on Forms F-1 and F-4, are generally not subject to Regulation S-K.

Because the SEC believes that the same property disclosure requirements should apply to both domestic and foreign mining registrants, the proposed rules would amend Form 20-F.

The proposed conforming changes are intended to ensure consistency in the mining disclosures of SEC filers across both domestic registrants and foreign private issuers (other than Canadian issuers that use the Multijurisdictional Disclosure System filing on Forms 40-F, F-10, F-7, F-8 or F-80). The proposed changes would particularly affect Canadian registrants that report pursuant to Form 20-F and are currently permitted to provide additional mining disclosure under NI 43-101 pursuant to the “foreign or state law” exception under Guide 7 and the “foreign law” exception under Form 20-F. The proposed rules would eliminate this exception and may thus increase compliance costs for these registrants to the extent that, as discussed previously, the proposed disclosure requirements differ from NI 43-101.482 That said, to the extent that these differences in disclosure requirements also provide expected incremental benefits, these benefits would mitigate any increase in compliance costs.

Comments on the proposed rule are due 60 days after the date of its publication in the Federal Register.

Review the press release and proposed rule on the SEC’s Web site.

The OSC’s Office of the Whistleblower will be the first of its kind for securities regulators in Canada, offering compensation of up to $5 million to whistleblowers who come forward with tips that lead to successful enforcement action. It is expected to increase the effectiveness of the OSC’s enforcement efforts by providing access to high quality information about matters such as insider trading, accounting and disclosure violations and registrant misconduct.

The program provides important whistleblower protections like confidentiality and anti-retaliation provisions. Anti-retaliation provisions, a key feature of the whistleblower program, are expected to be in place by the time of launch.

Review the press release on the OSC's Web site.