September

Final notes from the September IASB meeting

28 Sep, 2012

The IASB's September meeting was held in London on 24-28 September 2012, some of it a joint meeting with the FASB. We have posted the remaining Deloitte observer notes from sessions on insurance contracts, revenue recognition, impairment, IFRIC Update, IFRS 11 — acquisition of interest, IAS 28/IFRS10, and the conceptual framework.

Click through for direct access to the notes:

Monday, 24 September 2012

Tuesday, 25 September 2012 (IASB education sessions)

Wednesday, 26 September 2012

Thursday, 27 September 2012

Friday, 28 September 2012 (IASB-FASB)

You can also access the preliminary and unofficial notes taken by Deloitte observers for the entire meeting.

IASB decides on targeted re-exposure of insurance proposals

28 Sep, 2012

The IASB has announced that it will re-expose its proposals on accounting for insurance contracts, however, it will do so with targeted questions. Although the deliberations on the project are not complete the IASB believes re-exposing the proposals will contribute to reducing uncertainty in the market.

In coming to the decision to re-expose, the Board considered a number of factors including the length of time that has already been devoted to the project (the comprehensive project on insurance contracts was added to the IASB's agenda in 2001) and the importance of issuing a final standard soon. Balancing the belief that a re-exposure is necessary and the wish not to start discussions almost from scratch again by re-exposing the whole exposure draft (and thus to delay the finalisation of the standard), the IASB has decided on targeted questions on:

  • treatment of participating contracts;
  • presentation of premiums in the statement of comprehensive income;
  • treatment of the unearned profit in an insurance contract;
  • presenting, in other comprehensive income, the effect of changes in the discount rate used to measure the insurance contract liability; and
  • the approach to transition.

A date for the re-exposure has not yet been announced. Please click for access to the corresponding press release on the IASB website.

Additional notes from the September IASB meeting

27 Sep, 2012

The IASB's September meeting is being held in London on 24-28 September 2012, some of it a joint meeting with the FASB. We have posted Deloitte observer notes from sessions on macro hedge accounting, bearer biological assets, annual improvements (2011-2013), and investment entities.

Click through for direct access to the notes:

Wednesday, 26 September 2012

Thursday, 27 September 2012

You can also access the preliminary and unofficial notes taken by Deloitte observers for the entire meeting.

Annual report of the UK FRRP

26 Sep, 2012

The Financial Reporting Review Panel (FRRP) of the UK Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has published its annual report 2012. The FRRP is responsible for ensuring that the annual accounts of public companies and large private companies comply with the requirements of the Companies Act and applicable accounting standards.

An excerpt from the FRRP findings:

Conclusions

The Panel found the general quality of reporting by companies whose accounts it reviewed to be good.

There was further improvement in all aspects of reporting of principal risks and uncertainties. The reporting of mitigating actions, in particular, was considered to be done well.

In recent years, to support its objective of improving the quality of corporate reporting, the Panel has highlighted features which it associates with a good annual report. It is pleased to see some evidence this year of boards focussing on key messages by eliminating unnecessary and obscuring detail. Others have reconsidered the presentation of their financial statements by giving greater prominence to material disclosures or by changing the order of content to assist shareholders’ understanding of their company’s business, policies, performance and position.

We do, however, remain concerned about the quality of reporting by some smaller listed and AIM quoted companies that lack the accounting expertise of their larger listed counterparts. The Panel raised more potentially substantive issues with a number of such companies and these frequently took more time to resolve satisfactorily. Directors should not under-estimate the importance of their legal responsibility to prepare accounts that comply with the law and accounting standards.

The Panel was pleased that boards of directors continued to co-operate well with it during the year, often voluntarily giving undertakings to improve the quality of their future reporting. In the one instance where a company did not respond constructively to the Panel’s request for additional information and explanations, the Panel wrote to the chairman invoking its statutory power to require such information as it believed necessary. Such information was then provided.

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Further notes from the September IASB meeting

26 Sep, 2012

The IASB's September meeting is being held in London on 24-28 September 2012, some of it a joint meeting with the FASB. We have posted Deloitte observer notes from today's sessions on rate-regulated activities and classification and measurement.

Click through for direct access to the notes:

Wednesday, 26 September 2012

You can also access the preliminary and unofficial notes taken by Deloitte observers for the entire meeting.

Sir David Tweedie appointed as chairman of the IVSC

26 Sep, 2012

The International Valuation Standards Council (IVSC) has announced the appointment of Sir David Tweedie as Chairman of the IVSC's Board of Trustees, effective 29 October 2012.

Sir David was Chairman of the IASB for 10 years and served another decade before that as Chairman of the UK Accounting Standards Board. He overhauled UK GAAP and spearheaded the adoption of IFRS in over 100 countries. He will bring his vast experience to the IVSC, helping to advance the organisation's priorities: (1) promoting the recognition and adoption of the International Valuation Standards in the world’s major economies and (2) leading the development of the valuation profession worldwide bringing it together with users of valuation, regulators, legislators and opinion-formers.

Click for press release (link to IVSC website).

Notes from the September IASB meeting

25 Sep, 2012

The IASB's September meeting is being held in London on 24-28 September 2012, some of it a joint meeting with the FASB. We have posted Deloitte observer notes from yesterday's session on revenue recognition.

Click through for direct access to the notes:

Monday, 24 September 2012

You can also access the preliminary and unofficial notes taken by Deloitte observers for the entire meeting.

SMEIG will begin discussing responses to the SME Request for Information in February 2013

25 Sep, 2012

The IASB has announced that the first meeting of the SME Implementation Group (SMEIG) will take place on 4 and 5 February 2013.

The objective of the meeting is for the SMEIG to discuss public responses to the Request for Information: Comprehensive Review of the IFRS for SMEs published in June 2012 and to develop a list of specific recommendations to the IASB for amendments to the IFRS for SMEs.

The Request for Information adresses to areas of possible improvements:

  • Part A contains specific questions on particular sections of the IFRS for SMEs for respondents. These issues have been frequently raised by interested parties. Respondents are also invited to raise any other specific issues they may have relating to possible changes to particular sections of the IFRS for SMEs.
  • Part B contains general questions about the IFRS for SMEs. Respondents are invited to raise any other general issues they may have relating to possible changes to the IFRS for SMEs.

The deadline for public responses to the Request for Information is 30 November 2012.

Please click for IASB press release announcing the first meeting of the SMEIG (link to IASB website)

Notes from the September joint IASB and FASB meeting

21 Sep, 2012

The International Accounting Standards Board held a meeting in London on 20 September 2012, part of which was a discussion with the FASB on leases.

Click through for direct access to the notes:

Thursday, 20 September 2012

EFRAG outreach on PIR IFRS 8 and on disclosures

21 Sep, 2012

The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) offers an outreach event on the IASB post–implementation review (PIR) of IFRS 8 'Operating Segments' and the EFRAG/ANC/FRC discussion paper on disclosures on Thursday 11 October 2012 in Brussels.

EFRAG joins other national standard setters in offering a discussion forum in order to collect feedback from stakeholders on the International Accounting Standards Board’s (IASB) Post-implementation Review of IFRS 8 Operating Segments. The post-implementation review process for IFRS 8 Operating Segments was initiated in the first quarter of 2012 and Request for Information Post-implementation Review: IFRS 8 Operating Segments was issued in July 2012, with comments closing on 16 November 2012. With this outreach event, EFRAG intends to gather evidence  from European  constituents  on their experiences preparing and/or using information under IFRS 8 as a contribution to EFRAG’s response to the IASB Request for Information.

Part of the event will also be dedicated to debate and feedback on the discussion paper Towards a Disclosure Framework for the Notes, that was published jointly by EFRAG, the French Autorité des Normes Comptables (ANC) and the UK Financial Reporting Council (FRC) in July 2012. The aim of the discussion paper is to eventually influence and provide input to the IASB on their envisaged disclosure framework project.

Please click for more information on the EFRAG website (includes links to full agenda and for registration).

EFRAG has also announced that additional outreach events on PIR IFRS 8 and the discussion paper on disclosures will be offered throughout Europe in October and November though details are yet to be communicated. So far events in Copenhagen (29 October), Vilnius (30 October, discussion paper on disclosures only), Warsaw (8 November), Frankfurt (13 November), and Amsterdam (27 November, discussion paper on disclosures only) have been announced. Please see EFRAG website for further information.

Furthermore, EFRAG reminds stakeholders that responses to the request for experiences with IFRS 8 are still possible until 31 October 2012 (see our earlier story / EFRAG press release).

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