October

EFRAG TEG meeting October 2015

05 Oct, 2015

The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) will hold a TEG meeting on 7 and 8 October 2015 in Brussels.

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

EFRAG believes IASB should not extend its remit beyond the current focus of the organisation

05 Oct, 2015

The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has published a draft comment letter in respons to the Trustees' Request for Views (RfV) document with proposals for further enhancing the structure and effectiveness of the organisation.

In its draft comment letter on the RfV published in July 2015, EFRAG is only answering questions 1 to 6 of the RfV, as the other questions dealing with governance and financing issues have already been considered by the European Commission in its evaluation of the IAS Regulation.

On the remaining questions, EFRAG makes the following observations:

  • EFRAG believes that the IASB should not enter into the domain of public sector or not-for-profit sector standard-setting as this would require substantial additional resources, as well as knowledge, expertise and capacity not currently present within the IASB Board nor staff.
  • EFRAG believes that the IASB should be fully aware of the developments across the whole range of corporate reporting, but should only take steps where necessary to maintain the relevance of IFRS within corporate reporting debate. Nevertheless, EFRAG underlines the importance of the IASB addressing non-IFRS information, in particular alternative performance measures, as part of the disclosure initiative project.
  • As regards the IFRS taxonomy, EFRAG believes that the IFRS Foundation should continue to develop and maintain an IFRS Taxonomy to control the quality and the use of the brand. However, the IASB Board should not be involved in the process since this is for most members outside their scope of competence; rather competent senior staff should deal with this issue. The development of the appropriate computer language and software should be left entirely to somebody else.
  • EFRAG believes that post-implementation reviews should be regarded as a useful tool in IASB’s research activities; EFRAG also stresses that the IASB may also wish to consider undertaking post-implementation reviews of older standards where interpretation issues are often raised.
  • Finally, EFRAG calls on the Trustees to examine and reconsider the effectiveness of their due process oversight and extend it beyond mere compliance with the due process procedures and steps laid down in the due process handbook.

Please click to access the full draft comment letter on the EFRAG ewebsite. Comments are requested by 30 November 2015.

September 2015 IASB meeting notes posted — part 2 (concluded)

02 Oct, 2015

The IASB met at its offices in London on 21–24 September 2015, some of it a joint meeting with the FASB. We have posted the Deloitte observer notes from the sessions on insurance contracts, conceptual framework, business combinations, financial instruments with characteristics of equity, and discount rates.

Please click through for direct access to the notes:

Monday, 21 September 2015

Tuesday, 22 September 2015

Wednesday, 23 September 2015
Joint IASB/FASB education sessions

IASB-only

Thursday, 24 September 2015

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

Agenda paper details expected timing of potential IFRS 4 amendments

02 Oct, 2015

An agenda paper for the next meeting of the IASB, which will be held from 19 to 22 October 2015, explains the IASB staff's expected timetable for finalising potential amendments to IFRS 4 'Insurance Contracts' that would address the interaction between IFRS 9 'Financial Instruments' and the forthcoming standard on accounting for insurance contracts. It also contains recommends a comment period of 60 days for the corresponding exposure draft.

As the IASB’s Due Process Handbook states that the comment period on an exposure draft should normally be for a minimum period of 120 days but can be shorter if the matter is narrow in scope and urgent, the staff suggests having a comment period of 60 days. The staff argues that the comment period needs to strike a balance between the need to finalise any amendments to IFRS 4 sufficiently in advance of the mandatory effective date of IFRS 9 and the need to allow interested parties to consider the proposals and provide input to the IASB.

If the IASB decides that the comment period shall indeed be 60 days (this would also require approval from the Due Process Oversight Committee (DPOC)), the expected timetable would be as follows:

Expected timing Development
December 2015 publication of exposure draft
February 2016
end of comment period
Second quarter of 2016
redeliberations
Third quarter of 2016
issuance of final amendments

Please click to access the agenda paper on the IASB's website.

EFRAG issues draft comment letter on the 2015 IASB Agenda Consultation; launches consultation on its proactive agenda

01 Oct, 2015

The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has issued a draft comment letter on the IASB’s Request for Views, “2015 Agenda Consultation.”

On 11 August 2015, the IASB launched its second public consultation to seek broad public input on the strategic direction and overall balance of its future work programme. In the draft comment letter, the EFRAG believes the main priorities for the IASB should be (1) completing the insurance contract standard, (2) revising its conceptual framework, and (3) making significant progress on the disclosure initiative and dynamic risk management projects. In addition, the EFRAG provides an analysis and assessment of the importance of each IASB research project. Further, the EFRAG comments on the usefulness of post-implementation reviews when evaluating a standard and recommends that the IASB leverage work done by other accounting bodies during its research phase. Comments on the draft comment letter are due by 30 November 2015. For more information, see the draft comment letter on the EFRAG’s website.

In parallel with the IASB’s 2015 Agenda Consultation, the EFRAG is seeking views from its constituents on its proactive agenda. The proactive agenda consultation seeks views on the recent proactive work performed by the EFRAG as well as future proactive activities relevant for Europe. Comments on the consultation are due by 30 November 2015. For more information, see the press release and proactive agenda consultation on the EFRAG’s website.

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