The study reveals that the accounting profession is strongly linked to national economic growth and improved living standards and is estimated to contribute $575 billion annually to the global economy. IFAC concludes:

Professional accountants contribute to better information, reporting, measurement and decision making. When nations have a robust system to track the flow of money in government, within businesses, and between organizations, transparency and accountability are improved, organizations are strengthened, and economies are enhanced.

Please click to access the study Nexus 2: The Accountancy Profession – A Global Value Add on the IFAC website.

In its draft comment letter, EFRAG welcomes the guidance proposed in the draft interpretation, as it will help reduce the identified diversity in practice. EFRAG also agrees with the proposed consensus and believes it is consistent with the underlying principles in IAS 21 The Effects of Changes in Foreign Exchange Rates.

Please click to access the draft comment letter on the EFRAG website. Comments are requested by 13 January 2016.

The ASBJ publishes the paper as a contribution to the global debate about the recognition criteria in the Conceptual Framework. In the paper, the ASBJ analyses the need for a probability criterion. The ASBJ concludes that a robust description of such a criterion would be necessary while the use of the critrion is not always necessary. In particular, the ASBJ believes that:

• for the recognition of an asset or a liability that reflects a right or an obligation that results from a transaction, it is not necessary to apply a probability criterion;
• for the recognition of an asset or a liability that reflects a right or an obligation that results from other events, it will be necessary to apply a probability criterion.

Please click to access the discussion paper on the ASBJ website. The first paper in the series, entitled 'Is OCI Unnecessary?' was published in May 2014.

Check out the summaries for the forthcoming discussions on fair value measurement, post-employment benefits, goodwill and impairment, insurance contracts, the research project on share-based payment, and IFRS implementation issues. We have added them to our meeting note page and will supplement them with our popular meeting notes after the meeting.

Topics dis­cussed at the meeting in­cluded:

• Customer options for additional goods and services.
• Pre-production activities.
• Licenses — Specific application issues related to restrictions and renewals.
• Whether fixed-odds wagering contracts are inside or outside the scope of ASC 606.

 For more information, see Deloitte's Need to Know.

The pre­sen­ta­tion will include an overview of the ED and a question and answer session. It will start at 10:00 GMT time and will last ap­prox­i­mately 45 minutes. For more in­for­ma­tion, including how to reg­is­ter, see the IASB's website.

The year-end advice focuses on those areas that investors pay particular attention to; areas highlighted in the FRC’s report Improving the Quality of Reporting by Smaller Listed and Aim Quoted Companies, published in June 2015.  In that report, investors indicated that good quality reporting by smaller companies was of paramount importance to them; not least as the annual report if where they place most focus for their investment decisions in the absence of other sources of information in the sector such as analysts’ reports.

The year-end advice covers three areas:

Strategic Report

The FRC indicates that in preparing the strategic report a company should:

• Set out a clear narrative including:
  • a clear description of the business model and strategy;
  • the main trends and factors likely to affect the future development, performance or position of the business; and
  • provide linkage between various aspects of the annual report;
• Ensure that it only includes the principal risks and uncertainties that are material to the company, explain why these are material and not include generic risks;
• Ensure that financial and non-financial key performance indicators are consistent with other information presented within the annual report; and
• Ensure that there is a balanced and comprehensive analysis of the development and performance of the business.

The FRC cites that its Guidance on the Strategic Report, published in June 2014 sets out the requirements and illustrates best practice.

Accounting policies, significant judgements and errors

The FRC indicates that accounting policies should be “clear and specific, particularly in relation to revenue recognition and expenditure classification”.

It sets out a number of questions that preparers should consider when preparing the annual report and highlights that the Financial Reporting Lab report Accounting policies and integration of related financial information will provide practical ideas on what investors would expect to see in this area.

Cash Flow statements

The FRC highlights that the cash flow statement should not be left to the last minute and “adequate time” should be spent in considering the correct classification of cash flows between operating, investing and finance and making sure that these are consistent with the description of the business model in the strategic report.  Attention should also be given to the classification of unusual or non-recurring cash flows and also whether the cash flow statement reflects any late adjustments that have been put through.

The FRC draws attention to the technical findings of the Financial Reporting Review Panel in 2015-2016 indicating that this provides those areas that were commonly challenged.

The FRC will be writing to larger listed companies with year-end advice shortly.

The press release and the full letter are available on the FRC website.