• Work plan update
• Future agenda and due process
• IFRS Interpretation Committee
• Global implementation of IFRSs
• Financial instruments
• Leases project
• Revenue project

Click for:

• Global Preparers Forum Meeting Agenda (link to IASB website)

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) has released new standards on service concession arrangements and annual improvements.

IPSAS 32 Service Concession Arrangements: Grantor seeks to address a lack of international guidance on how governments and other public sector entities should report their involvement in service concession arrangements, often used to build the infrastructure necessary to maintain and improve critical public services.

IPSAS 32 requires that service concession arrangement assets and their related financing are reported by the public sector entity, using an approach that is consistent with that used for the operator's accounting in Interpretation IFRIC 12 Service Concession Arrangements. IPSAS 32 uses the principles in IFRIC 12 for determining which entity (grantor or operator) should recognise an asset in a service concession arrangement, in order to ensure that the grantor recognises a service concession asset it controls.

The IPSASB has also published Improvements to IPSASs 2011. The IPSASB's improvements project is modeled on the IASB's annual improvements process. The improvements amend existing IPSASs to maintain alignment with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs), as well as other general improvements.

IPSAS 32 applies to annual financial statements covering periods beginning on or after 1 January 2014, but may be applied earlier. The amendments made by Improvements to IPSASs 2011 are applied for annual financial statements covering periods beginning on or after 1 January 2013, but may be applied earlier.

Click for IPSASB press release (link to IFAC website).

The IFRS Foundation has announced the publication of the following translations:

• French translation of the Exposure Draft ED/2011/4 Investment Entities the Exposure Draft ED/2011/5 Government Loans (Proposed amendments to IFRS 1); the exposure drafts can be accessed via the IASB's Comment on a proposal webpage.
• Slovak translation of the 2011 Briefing for Chief Executives, Audit Committees & Board of Directors; the Slovak translation is available in the subscriber area on eIFRS.

Click for:

• Q&A Report (PDF 165k)
• Archive recording of the webcast (registration required)
• Dbriefs programme information.

Full details of the webcast are provided below:

Click for:

• IFRS Compliance, Presentation and Disclosure Checklist 2011 (Excel file, Zipped 3,385k)

In regards to the prospects for global accounting standards, Chairman Hoogervorst commented that global accounting standards are needed to protect investors in a global financial market. He said that while IFRSs is now required or permitted to be used in many countries, there are a few important jurisdictions that have not adopted IFRSs, such as the United States, Japan, India and China. However, he believes its not a matter of "if" these jurisdictions will move to IFRSs, but of "when" and "how" it will occur.

Next on Latin American adoption of IFRS, Hoogervorst commented that full adoption of IFRSs is the right step to take and noted Brazil as "a textbook example of how to adopt". By accepting IFRSs fully "Brazilian companies are able to raise capital on markets across Asia, Europe and the Americas—including the United States. . . . The risk premium associated with unfamiliar financial reporting requirements is eliminated, thus reducing the cost of capital and attracting greater inward investment."

In conclusion, Hoogervorst discussed the future agenda and the four immediate priorities of the IASB in the coming year. First, the remaining convergence projects with the FASB need to be completed. He mentions that there will be revised proposals for both leasing and revenue recognition in the months ahead with the goal of completing these projects in 2012. He also mentions that the boards are working on a joint approach to financial instruments and insurance contracts. Second, the chairman gave a brief remark on the development of the IASB's post-convergence agenda, specifically the agenda consultation process aimed to solicit feedback to the IASB. The third priority of the IASB is to get the remaining jurisdictions to adopt IFRSs. Lastly, he says the IASB will work with those impacted by the IASB's work and "ensure that they have a sense of ownership and respect for the product that we are developing for investors globally."

Click for the speech transcript (PDF 361k, link to IASB website).

The Pilot Programme is designed to run over a two year period and will involve a group of organisations who will work as a peer group network, exchanging knowledge and sharing experiences and participating in the development of the International Integrated Reporting Framework envisaged in the IIRC's Discussion Paper Towards Integrated Reporting – Communicating Value in the 21st Century (see our earlier story).

The initial participants in the programme include a variety of organisations from many geographical regions (including Deloitte):

In the podcast, Nick Main (Deloitte Global Leader for Sustainability & Climate Change Services) and Valerie Chort (National Leader of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability, Deloitte & Touche LLP), offer their perspectives on the report, including such topics as some of the primary drivers of business engagement in the sustainability agenda, the progression of standards development in sustainability over the next 5-10 years, and the most significant downsides to not addressing the sustainability challenges, both for governments and for companies.

Click for:

• access to the recorded podcast (link to deloitte.com website)
• Sustainability 2011 — A difficult coming of age (PDF 376k).