November

Latest edition of EFRAG Insider

19 Nov, 2014

The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has published a new edition of the publicly available newsletter 'EFRAG Insider'.

Integrated Reporting Public Sector Pioneer Network launched

19 Nov, 2014

The launch of a Public Sector Pioneer Network for Integrated Reporting <IR> was announced yesterday at the World Bank Public Sector Integrated Reporting Conference in Washington.

This initiative, which has been developed by the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) in partnership with the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA), will see several public sector bodies begin to explore the adoption of <IR>.

Organizations already signed up include the World Bank Group, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the City of London Corporation, the Welsh Government and UK government departments. In attendance at the conference were representatives from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the UK National Health Service (NHS), and the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB).

The press release and a page dedicated to the new Network can be found on the IIRC website.  More detail about the development of this Network can be found in our previous UK Accounting plus news item.

16th ESMA enforcement decisions report released

18 Nov, 2014

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published further extracts from its confidential database of enforcement decisions taken by European national enforcers. This batch deals with decisions in relation to IAS 1, IAS 7, IAS 12, IAS 16, IAS 18, IAS 32, IAS 36, IAS 38, IAS 40, IFRS 3, IFRS 5, IFRS 6, IFRS 8, and IFRS 13.

The European national en­forcers of fi­nan­cial in­for­ma­tion monitor and review fi­nan­cial state­ments pub­lished by issuers with se­cu­ri­ties traded on a reg­u­lated European market and who prepare their fi­nan­cial state­ments in ac­cor­dance with International Fi­nan­cial Re­port­ing Stan­dards (IFRS) and consider whether they comply with IFRS and other ap­plic­a­ble re­port­ing re­quire­ments, in­clud­ing relevant national law.

ESMA has de­vel­oped a con­fi­den­tial database of en­force­ment de­ci­sions taken by in­di­vid­ual European en­forcers as a source of in­for­ma­tion to foster ap­pro­pri­ate ap­pli­ca­tion of IFRS.

The pub­li­ca­tion of en­force­ment de­ci­sions is designed to inform market par­tic­i­pants about which accounting treat­ments European national en­forcers may consider as com­ply­ing with IFRS, i.e. whether the treat­ments are con­sid­ered as being within the accepted range of those per­mit­ted by IFRS. ESMA con­sid­ers the pub­li­ca­tion of the de­ci­sions, together with the ra­tio­nale behind them, will con­tribute to a con­sis­tent ap­pli­ca­tion of IFRS in the European Union.

Topics covered in the latest batch of extracts, covering the period from August 2012 to March 2014, include:

 

StandardTopic

IAS 1Presentation of Financial Statements
IAS 39Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement
IFRS 7Financial Instruments: Disclosures

Disclosure of forborne loans

IFRS 3Business Combinations
IFRS 13Fair Value Measurement

Fair value of consideration paid in shares

IAS 32Financial Instruments: Presentation

Recognition of a liability payable to equity holders

IAS 7Statement of Cash Flows
IAS 16Property, Plant and Equipment
IAS 18Revenue

Presentation of statement of cash flows

IFRS 5Non-current Assets Held for Sale and Discontinued Operations

Presentation of discontinued operations

Presentation of non-current assets held for sale

IAS 12Income Taxes
IFRS 5Non-current Assets Held for Sale and Discontinued Operations

Deferred tax assets upon disposal of a subsidiary

IAS 12Income Taxes
IAS 16Property, Plant and Equipment
IAS 40Investment Property

Accounting for the effects of specific tax regime

IAS 36Impairment of Assets

Key assumptions used in the impairment test of goodwill

IAS 38Intangible Assets
IFRS 6Exploration for and Evaluation of Mineral Resources 

Disclosures related to capitalised costs

IFRS 8Operating Segments

Disclosure of major customers

Click for access to the full report (link to ESMA website).

IFRS Foundation appoints two Trustees

18 Nov, 2014

The IFRS Foundation has announced the appointments of Alan Beller and Werner Brandt as Trustees of the IFRS Foundation. The appointments will begin on 1 January 2015 and will expire on 31 December 2017.

Mr Alan Beller was Director of the Division of Corporation Finance of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and a Senior Counsellor to the SEC from January 2002 until February 2006. Mr Beller's tenure at the SEC saw far-reaching corporate governance, financial disclosure and securities offering reforms, including the implementation of the corporate provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

Dr Werner Brandt is the Chairman of the Board of the German Financial Reporting Enforcement Panel (FREP) and was a member of the Board of the Accounting Standards Committee of Germany (DRSC) from 2003 to 2011, in which he played a leading role in defining the future positioning and structure of the DRSC.

For more information, see the press release on the IASB's website.

Agenda for the December 2014 ASAF meeting

18 Nov, 2014

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has released the tentative agenda for the meeting of the Accounting Standards Advisory Forum (ASAF), which is to be held at the IASB's offices in London on 4-5 December 2014. The meeting will discuss a number of the IASB's active projects, including the disclosure initiative, leases, insurance contracts, and the upcoming agenda consultation.

The agenda for the meeting is summarised below:

Thursday, 4 December 2014 (9:35-17:15)

  • Disclosure initiative
  • Emissions trading schemes
  • Rate-regulated activities
  • Leases
  • Post-employment benefits
  • Dynamic risk accounting


Friday, 5 December 2014 (9:00-15:25)

  • Equity method of accounting
  • Foreign currency translation
  • Inflation accounting
  • Insurance contracts
  • Current projects and research update
  • 2015 Agenda Consultation
  • Agenda planning and debrief

Agenda papers for the meeting are available on the IASB's website.

2015 IFRS Blue Book — Coming soon

18 Nov, 2014

The IFRS Foundation has announced that the '2015 IFRS Consolidated without early application' will be published in December 2014. This volume (nicknamed the "Blue Book") will contain all official pronouncements that are mandatory on 1 January 2015. It does not include IFRSs with an effective date after 1 January 2015. The Blue Book differs from the traditional Bound Volume (the "Red Book"), which includes all pronouncements issued at the publication date, including those that do not become mandatory until a future date.

The Blue Book will sell for £70 plus shipping (academic, developing country, and volume discounts apply). You will find more information and ordering details here.

New EFRAG Board to hold first meeting

18 Nov, 2014

The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) will hold its first Board meeting, under its new governance structure, on 21 November 2014 in Brussels.

An agenda with supporting papers and details on how to register for the public meeting can be found on the EFRAG website.

Prada reiterates the case for global accounting standards

17 Nov, 2014

The Chairman of the IFRS Foundation Trustees, Michel Prada, delivered a speech entitled 'Korea and IFRS' at a seminar hosted by the Korean Accounting Standards Board (KASB). In his speech, he praised the efforts of the KASB and provided an update on the progress of achieving a single set of global accounting standards.

Following the theme of his recent speeches made in Japan and China earlier this month, Mr Prada provided a case for global accounting standards and uses the actions taken in Korea to serve as “an exemplary role model in the region.” 

Mr Prada states that businesses in Korea benefit from full adoption of IFRS because they can report a set of financial statements that are familiar with investors around the world. According to a recent KASB review of the consequences of the move to IFRS, the introduction of IFRS has “led to an improvement in the quality of earnings, as well as improving comparability between different Korean companies as well as their international peers.” Mr Prada noted that other jurisdictions have experienced similar conclusions. He also states that the continued economic and financial globalisation has caused the G20, International Monetary Fund, World Bank and IOSCO to support the work of the IFRS Foundation (IFRSF) and the IASB.

In addition, Mr Prada commented on progress made in the development of high quality, global accounting standards, which included IFRSF study on the use of IFRS around the world and the requirement of 114 out of 138 countries to require the use of IFRS for all or most public companies. Significant progress has been made in jurisdictions that have not yet required the use of IFRS, such as China, India, Japan and United States.

Lastly, he reflected on the “evolution” of the IFRSF and IASB and how the upcoming public consultation on the structure and effectiveness of the organisation will provide stakeholders with an opportunity to voice their comments.

The full text of Mr Prada's speech is avail­able on the IASB's website. The KASB has published a press release on the seminar on its website.

EU Directive on disclosure of non-financial and diversity information published

17 Nov, 2014

The Directive on disclosure of non-financial and diversity information by large companies and groups addressing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues has been published in the Official Journal of the EU on 15 November 2014.

According to the new Directive, which was approved by the Council of the European Union in September 2014, large public-interest companies with more than 500 employees are required to disclose relevant and material environmental and social information in their annual reports. Disclosures shall be provided at group level, rather than by each individual company within a group.

Large listed companies will also be required to provide information on their diversity policy, covering age, gender, geographical diversity, and educational and professional background. Disclosures shall set out the objectives of the policy, how it has been implemented, and results.

The Directive enters into force on the twentieth day after its publication. Member States have to transpose the Directive into national law by 6 December 2016. The new provisions have to be applied to all undertakings within the scope of the Directive for the financial year starting on 1 January 2017 or during the calendar year 2017.

Please click for access to the full text of the Directive in the Official Journal (available in all languages of the EU).

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