IASB Meeting — 17–18 July 2018

Start date:

End date:

Location: London

IASB (International Accounting Standards Board)

 

Overview

The IASB met on Tuesday 17 and Wednesday 18 July 2018 to discuss nine topics.

Rate-regulated Activities

The Board supported the recommendation that the model should apply the same measurement requirements for regulatory liabilities and regulatory assets. The Board supported the other staff recommendations subject to (i) the development of further guidance to help entities assess which measurement method would provide the best outcome; and (ii) consideration that not all timing differences would be subject to the thought-process developed to assess significant financing components.

Management Commentary

The staff gave an update on the project to revise the Management Commentary Practice Statement. The membership of the Management Commentary Consultative Group was announced on 10 July 2018. An Exposure Draft for a revised Practice Statement can be expected in 2020.

Business Combinations under Common Control

The staff gave an oral update of the project, including feedback from the recent ASAF meeting.

Conceptual Framework

This Board discussed a paper analysing when and how preparers of financial statements should refer to the new Conceptual Framework for assistance in developing accounting policies. No decisions were made.  

Implementation

The Board supported the IFRS Interpretations Committee’s proposal to amend IAS 37 to specify that the ‘cost of fulfilling’ a contract comprises the ‘costs that relate directly to the contract’.

The Board supported the staff recommendation to start a narrow-scope project to address commodity loans. The Board also decided to ask the Interpretations Committee to consider how an entity should apply existing IFRS requirements to holdings of cryptocurrencies, mining and ICOs.

Goodwill and Impairment

The Board discussed how to focus its work on the Goodwill and Impairment research project and decided to identify improvements to the disclosure requirements; pursue changes to the value in use calculations; not to characterise impairment testing as assessing whether the carrying amount of acquired goodwill is recoverable; and not to remove differences between accounting requirements for internally-generated intangible assets and those for intangible assets acquired in a business combination. 

Disclosure Initiative

This session covered five topics: Definition of Material; Targeted Standards-level Review of Disclosures—Guidance for the Board—Drafting Disclosure Requirements; Accounting Policy Disclosure; Location of Information; Technology and Digital Reporting Considerations.

  • The Board decided to complete the proposal to amend the definition of material so as to make the changes effective for periods beginning on or after 1 January 2020.
  • In relation to the guidance for the Board on how to draft disclosure requirements, the Board made several decisions about when to use prescriptive language, ways to improve consistency of wording and how to organise the disclosure requirements within a Standard. The Board decided to use IAS 19 Employee Benefits and IFRS 13 Fair Value Measurement to test the new approach.
  • The Board had reservations about amending IAS 1:117–124 to require entities to disclose their material accounting policies rather than their significant accounting policies and asked the staff for some examples. The Board will develop related guidance and examples for inclusion in the Materiality Practice Statement.
  • The Board decided not to develop requirements about IFRS information outside the financial statements or non-IFRS information inside the financial statements.
  • The Board decided that its guidance should include relevant matters to consider when developing and drafting disclosure objectives and requirements. The broader implications of technology on financial reporting will be considered as part of the IFRS Foundation’s Technology Initiative.

Accounting Policies and Accounting Estimates

The Board received an update of progress on its Exposure Draft Accounting Policies and Accounting Estimates (Proposed amendments to IAS 8). While some respondents to the ED said the proposed amendments would improve clarity others questioned whether the benefits of finalising the proposed amendments would outweigh the costs of doing so. The staff have consulted with the Accounting Standards Advisory Forum and, as a next step, will seek the advice of the IFRS Interpretations Committee.

Emerging Economies Group Update

The meeting concluded with an update of the most recent meeting of the IASB’s Emerging Economies Group.

 

Agenda for the meeting

Tuesday 17 July 2018

  • Rate-regulated activities
    • Measurement
    • Presentation and disclosure objective (education session)
  • Management commentary
  • Business combinations under common control
  • Conceptual Framework
  • Implementation:
    • IFRIC Update
    • Costs considered in assessing whether a contract is onerous (IAS 37) — Possible narrow-scope standard-setting
    • Transactions involving commodities and cryptocurrencies — Potential new research project

Wednesday 18 July 2018

  • Goodwill and impairment
  • Disclosure initiative:
    • Definition of material — Amendments to IAS 1 and IAS 8: due process steps and balloting
    • Targeted standards-level review of disclosures
    • Principles of disclosure:
      • Project next steps
      • Technology and digital reporting considerations
  • Accounting policies and accounting estimates
  • Emerging Economies Group update

Agenda papers for this meeting are available on the IASB's website.

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