2010

IAASB appointments

17 Dec, 2010

The Public Interest Oversight Board (PIOB) has confirmed a number of new and reappointed members of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB):

  • New appointments: Jean Blascos (France), Jianshen Chen (China), Merran Kelsall (Australia)
  • Renewed appointments: John Archambault (United States), Jon Grant (United Kingdom), Caithlin McCabe (Australia).

In addition, Diana Hillier was reappointed as deputy chair of the IAASB. The appointments were recommended by the IFAC Board and are effective January 1, 2011. Click for press release (link to IFAC website).

Notes from Day 4 of December IASB meeting

16 Dec, 2010

The IASB is meeting in London on 13-17 December 2010 for its regular December meeting, some of which is a joint meeting with the FASB.

We've posted Deloitte observer notes from the topics discussed on day four of the meeting. The topics discussed were as follows (click through for direct access to the notes for that particular topic):

Thursday, 16 December 2010 (IASB-FASB joint meeting)

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

IPSASB calls for comments on public sector conceptual framework

16 Dec, 2010

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) has released for comment an exposure draft (ED) and two Consultation Papers related to its project to develop a Conceptual Framework for the general purpose financial reporting of public sector entities:

  • Conceptual Framework Exposure Draft 1 (CF-ED1) Conceptual Framework for General Purpose Financial Reporting by Public Sector Entities: Role, Authority, and Scope; Objectives and Users; Qualitative Characteristics; and Reporting Entity proposes that the objectives of financial reporting should be to provide information for accountability and decision-making purposes and should extend beyond the traditional financial statements to include more comprehensive financial and non-financial information
  • Consultation Paper Elements and Recognition in Financial Statements identifies alternative asset and liability-led and revenue and expense-led approaches to financial statements and considers the key characteristics of assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses
  • Consultation Paper Measurement of Assets and Liabilities in Financial Statements considers the measurement bases that may be appropriate for the elements that are recognised in financial statements, discussing historical cost, market value, replacement cost and deprival value.

Many of the IPSASs currently on issue are based on IFRSs to the extent that the requirements of those IFRSs are relevant to the public sector. However, development of the IPSASB's Conceptual Framework is not an IFRS convergence project, and the purpose of the IPSASB's project is not to interpret the application of the IASB Framework to the public sector.

The development of a conceptual framework for public sector accounting standards is an important step towards their widespread adoption in various jurisdictions and may see some countries move to base public sector, and possibly not-for-profit, accounting standards on IPSASs (for instance, the New Zealand Accounting Standards Review Board is currently considering the viability of adopting IPSASs in New Zealand).

Comments on the documents are requested by 15 June 2011. Click for IPSASB press release (link to IFAC website).

iGAAP 2011 A guide to IFRS reporting now available

16 Dec, 2010

The fourth edition of this guide sets out comprehensive guidance for entities reporting under IFRSs.

It has been updated not only to deal with new and amended requirements but also to reflect increased practical experience of dealing with IFRS issues and to include many more illustrative examples.

As well as dealing comprehensively with Standards that apply for periods ending 31 December 2010, it also covers those further pronouncements issued by the IASB that will apply from 2011. New material includes:

  • IFRIC 19 Extinguishing Financial Liabilities with Equity Instruments,
  • the revised version of IAS 24 Related Party Disclosures,
  • the IASB's amendments to existing Standards,
  • an overview of the IFRS for SMEs, identifying key differences with full IFRSs,
  • IFRS 9 Financial Instruments.

Orders for this guide may be placed via www.lexisnexis.co.uk/deloitte.

EFRAG establishes Advisory Panel on the Role of the Business Model in Financial Reporting

16 Dec, 2010

A project on the role of the business model in financial reporting has commenced as part of the pro-active work of the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG).

The aim of the project is to provide European input to the future consideration, development and use of the business model concept in financial reporting. The project is being led by EFRAG and supported by the standardsetters from the UK (ASB) and France (ANC). As part of the arrangements for the project, a pan-European advisory panel is being established to support the work, and EFRAG is now seeking nominations for membership of that panel.

The objective of the project is to investigate the possible role of the business model concept within financial reporting. This investigation will include an assessment of the implications of the business model on recognition, measurement, presentation, disclosure and performance reporting within the wider financial report. The project aims to provide European input into the IASB's future consideration, development and use of the business model concept in financial reporting.

Please click for EFRAG press release for further details (link to EFRAG website).

We comment on ED/2010/9 'Leases'

15 Dec, 2010

Deloitte has submitted a comment letter on Exposure Draft ED/2010/9 'Leases'.

The proposal would result in a consistent approach to lease accounting for both lessees and lessors using a 'right-of-use' approach.

We agree with the proposed right-of-use model when it is applied to very simple lease arrangements that include a fixed term with fixed payments as we believe this will increase transparency of the economic effects of leasing arrangements to users of the financial statements. However, we have significant concerns over the application of the right-of-use model when the arrangement includes other terms such as options and contingencies.

Click to Download our Comment Letter (PDF 146k).

Notes from December IASB meeting

15 Dec, 2010

The IASB is meeting in London on 13-17 December 2010 for its regular December meeting, some of which is a joint meeting with the FASB.

We've posted Deloitte observer notes from the topics discussed on the first two days of the meeting, as follows (click through for direct access to the notes for that particular topic):

Monday, 13 December 2010 (IASB only)

  • IFRS 1 — Severe hyperinflation — comment letter analysis
    • Scope of the amendment
    • Comparative information
    • Other comments
  • Post-employment benefits
    • Past service costs, curtailments and settlements
    • Multi-employer plans
    • Tax and administration costs
    • Mortality assumptions
    • Incorporating IFRIC 14
    • Identification of back-end loaded plans
    • Interim reporting
    • State plan and group plan disclosures

Tuesday, 14 December 2010 (IASB-FASB joint meeting)

  • Fair value measurement
    • Disclosure requirements for modifications to fair value
    • Fair value measurement of a liability issued with an inseparable third-party guarantee
  • Asset and liability offsetting
    • Multilateral netting arrangements
    • Disclosure requirements
    • Transition requirements
    • Comment period

The IASB and FASB also discussed revenue recognition, the notes for this session will be posted soon.

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

Notes from Day 3 of December IASB meeting

15 Dec, 2010

The IASB is meeting in London on 13-17 December 2010 for its regular December meeting, some of which is a joint meeting with the FASB.

We've posted Deloitte observer notes from the topics discussed on day three of the meeting. We have also posted the notes of the revenue recognition project discussion from Day 2 of the meeting. The topics discussed were as follows (click through for direct access to the notes for that particular topic):

Tuesday, 14 December 2010

Wednesday, 15 December 2010

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

OECD and GRI form partnership to promote sustainability reporting

14 Dec, 2010

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have announced a Memorandum of Understanding forming a partnership which aims to give companies greater guidance and support on how to conduct their business responsibly and report on their sustainability performance.

The partnership is designed to help companies make greater use of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the GRI Sustainability Reporting Framework, with the objective of bringing increased coherence and consistency to their efforts to act more responsibly and be more transparent about their sustainability.

The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the GRI Sustainability Reporting Framework are based on and promote the same internationally agreed standards and principles for responsible business conduct, including social and human rights and economic and environmental matters. The GRI Sustainability Reporting Framework provides guidance on how to measure sustainability performance and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises provides a benchmark to assess such performance.

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ASB study on capital management disclosures

14 Dec, 2010

The UK Accounting Standards Board (ASB) has conducted a study into financial capital management disclosures based largely on published annual reports and accounts of 65 companies across all market sectors.

25 companies appeared to have given no IAS 1 capital management disclosures at all. The annual reports and accounts of the residual 40 companies were then reviewed in more detail covering both the business review and the audited financial statements. Even though the study concludes that there is good practice in places the overall finding is:

"The majority of companies omitted or provided largely boilerplate information about financial capital in a manner that failed to convey meaningfully how they assess capital and how they manage it over the medium to long term. There are significant opportunities for improvement in reporting about capital."

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