Research programme update

Date recorded:

Research Update (Agenda Paper 8)

In this session, the staff gave a brief update on the research programme since the last update, provided in the Board’s meeting in January 2020.

In April 2020, the Board delayed the comment deadline for the Discussion Paper on Goodwill and Impairment, and discussed changes to its timelines for some other research projects, in the light of COVID-19. As this crisis develops, the staff will continue to monitor the situation and consider whether further changes to the timelines will be necessary. In doing so, the staff will aim to make progress on projects where this will not depend on a level of engagement with stakeholders that we cannot reasonably ask them to provide during these challenging times.

The main developments in the research programme, including post-implementation reviews (PIRs), since January 2020 are as follows:

  • In January 2020, the Board completed its review of the research project on Provisions and added to its maintenance work plan a project to develop targeted amendments to IAS 37.
  • In January 2020, the Board moved the research project on Subsidiaries that are SMEs to the standard-setting work plan.
  • In February 2020, the Board completed its discussion of the research performed in the project on Business Combinations under Common Control. The Board now aims to publish a Discussion Paper in Q3 2020.
  • In March 2020, in its research project on Goodwill and Impairment, the Board published a Discussion Paper Business Combinations— Disclosures, Goodwill and Impairment. The comment deadline is 31 December 2020.
  • The Board held an initial discussion on Pension Benefits that Depend on Asset Returns and has continued its discussions on Financial Instruments with Characteristics of Equity.
  • The Board has not discussed the project on Extractive Activities and Dynamic Risk Management (DRM), but will do so at future meetings. Outreach on the core model for developing the DRM model is now planned for H2 2020.
  • In April 2020, the Board decided to proceed with the Post-implementation Review (PIR) of IFRS 10, IFRS 11 and IFRS 12 and expects to publish a Request for Information (RFI) in Q4 2020.
  • The staff aim to start work on the pipeline research project on the Equity Method in the next few months because there may be synergies with analysis of responses the Board may receive to the Request for Information on the PIR of IFRS 11 and IFRS 12.
  • It is now unlikely that work will start in the next few months on the other pipeline projects, or on the Post-implementation Review of IFRS 5. This is because of the need to devote resources to high-priority projects, such as the amendments to projects on IFRS 17 and IBOR and urgent application issues raised by stakeholders as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, and also to maintain momentum on projects already active.

No decisions were requested of the Board.

There was no discussion on this agenda item.

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