Mr. Hooger­vorst’s speech builds on his previous comments made in June 2015 at the IFRS Foun­da­tion con­fer­ence in Paris. He explained that the contrast between his­tor­i­cal cost and fair value is not as large as some would expect and noted several prin­ci­ples that an entity can consider when selecting either his­tor­i­cal cost or current value as a mea­sure­ment basis. In addition, he commented that users are having issues with certain parts of other com­pre­hen­sive income (OCI), which has led the IASB to draw some important con­clu­sions related to its conceptual framework exposure draft. He also mentioned that mea­sure­ment and OCI will be two of the main topics he will discuss at upcoming outreach events hosted by the IASB.

Mr. Prada opened his speech with the usual ref­er­ences to the in­creas­ing global use of IFRSs before remarking on the situation in China. He praised the in­tro­duc­tion of standards that are substantially converged with IFRSs and high­lighted China’s support of the IFRS Foun­da­tion and the IASB. In addition, he suggested a possible change to the use of IFRSs in China:

Is now the time to consider further steps towards the goal of full con­ver­gence? . . . My personal view is that China has much to gain in doing so, in terms of international con­fi­dence in China’s capital market as well as Chinese lead­er­ship in establishing standards for global finance. . . . Of course, this is a decision for China alone, but we at the IFRS Foun­da­tion will support you every step of this journey.

A video of the panel dis­cus­sion held during the event will be available soon.