September

Notes from the August 2010 IASB-EFRAG meeting

05 Sep, 2010

On 26 August 2010 the IASB and the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) held an informal meeting in London.

These meetings take place twice a year and are used to discuss European ideas and input into projects on the IASB's agenda. In addition to representatives from EFRAG, four European standard-setters were represented: France, Germany, Italy and the UK.

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

Click here to go to the preliminary and unofficial Notes Taken by Deloitte Observers for the entire IASB-EFRAG meeting.

Understanding the role of professional accountants in business

03 Sep, 2010

The Professional Accountants in Business (PAIB) Committee of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) has released for comment a Consultation Paper that highlights how employer expectations of professional accountants in business are expected to change in light of global trends and evolving organisational needs.

The paper analyses these expectations in relation to eight drivers of sustainable organisational success, providing the framework for key activities that professional accountants will be expected to perform. The drivers were defined based on an analysis of three long-term trends influencing organisations: globalisation, complexity, and technology.

The Consultation Paper asks whether IFAC member bodies and associates would find it useful for an international competency framework to be developed, covering the roles and domain of professional accountants in business.

Extracts from the paper:

Globalization

Two significant global issues will impact organizations and markets and hence the role of professional accountants in business. The first is the diffusion of economic power in the global economy across a wider range of regions and countries, underpinned by the deployment of information technology, greater economic openness, and the growing size and reach of multinational companies. The second issue is sustainable development, and in particular climate change, which has now become a defining issue of our era. With this increased attention has come an increased demand for reliable decision-making information.

Complexity

... Regulators and standard setters will also have to accept their responsibility for tackling complexity. Shifting from more to better and evidence-based regulation and oversight would enable organizations to more effectively and efficiently create stakeholder value and to properly account for how they are doing so. In addition, global convergence of standards and regulation, as well as global coordination of oversight could also help reduce complexity and the cost of business.

Comments on the Consultation Paper are requested by 30 November 2010. Click for IFAC press release (link to IFAC website).

Notes from the September 2010 Interpretations Committee meeting and podcast

03 Sep, 2010

The IFRS Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) met at the IASB's offices in London on Thursday and Friday, 2-3 September 2010. The topics discussed were as follows (click through to detailed Deloitte observer notes for that topic):

Newsletter on removal of fixed dates for first-time adopters

03 Sep, 2010

Deloitte's IFRS Global Office has published an IFRS in Focus Newsletter – IASB issues Exposure Draft on Removal of Fixed Dates for First-time Adopters.

This newsletter describes the recent IASB proposal to amend IFRS 1 First-time Adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards. The ED proposes to provide relief to first-time adopters of IFRSs by amending IFRS 1 as follows:
  • it amends the date of prospective application of the derecognition of financial assets and liabilities from '1 January 2004' to 'the date of transition to IFRSs' so that first-time adopters of IFRSs do not have to apply the derecognition requirements in IAS 39 retrospectively; and
  • it amends the date of prospective application of the requirement to fair value financial assets and liabilities to transactions entered into 'on or after the date of transition to IFRSs', which would relieve first-time adopters from recalculating 'day 1' differences on initial recognition for those transactions occurring before the date of transition to IFRSs.
The ED comment period ends on 27 October 2010.

Click for:

 

IASB and FASB publish questionnaire for lessees and lessors

02 Sep, 2010

The IASB and the US FASB published a questionnaire for lessees and lessors as part of their outreach on the Leases project.

In the questionnaire, the boards are surveying organisations on their use of, and accounting for, leases. Completing the questionnaire does not require knowledge of the boards' proposals. Further details are available on the IASB's website. The deadline to complete the questionnaire(s) is 30 September 2010.

 

New editorial corrections to IFRSs

01 Sep, 2010

The IASB has posted to its website a new batch of Editorial Corrections to IFRSs.

This batch includes editorial corrections and changes to IFRS for SMEs (issued July 2009), IFRS 9 Financial Instruments (issued November 2009), Improvements to IFRSs (issued May 2010), Bound Volume (Red Book) 2010 and Bound Volume (Blue Book) 2010.
Click for Editorial Corrections to IFRSs (link to IASB website).

 

Correction list for hyphenation

These words serve as exceptions. Once entered, they are only hyphenated at the specified hyphenation points. Each word should be on a separate line.