The annual improvements process provides a mechanism for non-urgent but necessary amendments to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) to be grouped together and issued in one package. Such amendments may clarify guidance and wording, or make relatively minor amendments to the standards that address unintended consequences, conflicts or oversights.

The suggested amended criteria for determining whether a matter relating to the clarification or correction of IFRSs should be addressed using the annual improvements process are outlined below. All criteria must be met.

The proposed amendment has one or both of the following characteristics: clarifying—the proposed amendment would improve IFRSs by: clarifying unclear wording in existing IFRSs, or providing guidance where an absence of guidance is causing concern. A clarifying amendment maintains consistency with the existing principles within the applicable IFRSs. It does not propose a new principle, or a change to an existing principle. correcting—the proposed amendment would improve IFRSs by: resolving a conflict between existing requirements of IFRSs and providing a straightforward rationale for which existing requirement should be applied, or addressing an oversight or relatively minor unintended consequence of the existing requirements of IFRSs. A correcting amendment does not propose a new principle or a change to an existing principle, but may create an exception from an existing principle. The proposed amendment has a narrow and well-defined purpose, ie the consequences of the proposed change have been considered sufficiently and identified. It is probable that the IASB will reach conclusion on the issue on a timely basis. Inability to reach a conclusion on a timely basis may indicate that the cause of the issue is more fundamental than can be resolved within annual improvements. If the proposed amendment would amend IFRSs that are the subject of a current or planned IASB project, there must be a pressing need to make the amendment sooner than the project would.

The consultation document of the IFRS Foundation is open for comment until 30 November 2010. It can be accessed via the IASB's website. The corresponding press release is available Here (PDF 35k).

Among other topics, the Advisory Council discussed the IASB work plan post-June 2011. Members of the Council suggested that accounting for Islamic transactions and agriculture should be added to the top priorities of the IASB and that XBRL must be considered together with the disclosure framework. Click for the Advisory Council Minutes on the IASB's Website.

 

The ED on defined benefit plans was issued on 29 April 2010 and would amend the accounting for defined benefit plans through which some employers provide long-term employee benefits, such as pensions and post-employment medical care. The ED on uncertainty analysis disclosure was issued on 29 June 2010 and would require the measurement uncertainty analysis disclosure to reflect the interdependencies between unobservable inputs used to measure fair value in Level 3 of the three-level fair value hierarchy.

Click for our previous story:

• Limited-scope ED on fair value measurement

 

The draft Interpretation considers the following questions:

• (a) Is the definition of an asset met?
• (b) When should the stripping campaign component be recognised?
• (c) How should the stripping campaign component be measured initially?
• (d) How should the stripping campaign component be measured subsequently?

The IFRS Interpretations Committee has reached the conclusion that costs associated with a stripping campaign' should be accounted for as an additional component of an existing asset, and that this component should be written down over the reserves that directly benefit from the campaign.

DI/2010/1 Stripping Costs in the Production Phase of a Surface Mine is open for comment until 30 November 2010. It can be accessed via the IASB's website. The IASB's press release is available here (PDF 35k). Our related project page offers a summary of the discussions leading up to the publishing of the draft Interpretation.

The Basis for Conclusions states:

IFRS 1 First-time Adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards requires a first-time adopter to restate past derecognition transactions that occurred after 1 January 2004. This requirement was included in IFRS 1 as a result of the revision to IAS 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement in 2003, to place entities then adopting IFRSs for the first time in the same position as existing IFRS users at that time. As time passes, the fixed transition date of 1 January 2004 becomes more remote and increasingly less relevant to the financial reports of additional jurisdictions that will adopt IFRSs.

The exposure draft Removal of Fixed Dates for First-time Adopters is open for comment until 27 October 2010. It can be accessed via the IASB's website. The IASB's press release is available here (PDF 98k). Our related project page offers a summary of the discussions leading up to the publishing of the exposure draft.

The electronic PDF is available in the eIFRS Online Subscriber Areaof the IASB's website for access by both Comprehensive and eIFRS subscribers.

 

The topics discussed were as follows (click through to detailed Deloitte observer notes for that topic):

• Financial Instruments: Amortised Cost and Impairment
• Financial Instruments: Hedge Accounting
• Income taxes

Click here to go to the preliminary and unofficial Notes Taken by Deloitte Observers for the entire meeting. The next IASB meeting is currently scheduled for 13-17 September 2010.

Click for:

• IFRS in Focus Newsletter – IASB issues Exposure Draft on Lease Accounting (PDF 128k)
• Past editions of IFRS in Focus
• Our Leases project page

 

A new issue of the Investor Perspectives is now available:

• 23 August 2010 - Patrick Finnegan: Some things we are certain about, other things we just don't know - a proposal to analyse uncertainty

All Investor Perspectives are archived on the IASB's website.

Click for previous news article, July 13, 2010.

The handbook can be downloaded free of charge in PDF format from IFAC's Publications and Resources site. Printed copies can also be ordered. The IFAC press release announcing the publication of the handbook is available here (link to IFAC website).