The new schedule is:

• IFRS implementation issues – 9:00-11:00
• Financial instruments with characteristics of equity – 11:15-12:15
• Research update –12:15-12:30

Our pre-meeting summaries of the agenda papers to be discussed are available here.

The GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards will enable companies around the world to be more transparent about their impacts on the economy, the environment and society. There a three universal standards – 101 Foundation, 102 General Disclsures, and 103 Management Approach – that will be used by every organisation that prepares a sustainability report. Each organisation then chooses from the topic-specific standards (200 series on economic aspects, 300 series on environmental aspects, and 400 series on social aspects) to report on its material topics.

Please click for the press release on the GRI website. The GRI Standards are available for free download through the GRI Standards hub, along with extensive additional resources.

GRI is also organising free launch events around the globe in November: in North America on the 2nd, 16th and 29th, in Africa on the 10th, in Australia on the 15th and 17th, in Asia on the 21st. Launch events in Europe are currently being planned. More information on the launch events is available here.

Ms Lloyd has been an IASB Board member since 2014. Previously, she served as the Director of Capital Markets and Senior Director of Technical Activities at the IASB. In addition, Ms Lloyd is a former member of the Australian Accounting Standards Board.

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

New this year was an award for ‘Communicating integrated thinking’, open to organisations that are demonstrating clearly, through communicating to their providers of financial capital, how sustainability is embedded into their overall strategy and decision making process, and how this integrated thinking is contributing to a sustainable business model which delivered longer term value. United Utilities won this category with Novo Nordisk being highly commended.

Other winners announced at the awards ceremony held at Merchant Taylors Hall in London on Thursday 13 October 2016 were:

Large Business Award 

• Winner: Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company
• Highly commended: Skanska UK 

Public sector and third sector award

• Winner: Climate Disclosure Standards Board
• Highly commended: HM Treasury 

Investing and financing award

• Winner: Bridges Ventures 

Innovative new idea award

• The Public Services Lab (PSL) - a joint venture established by Interserve, ClubFinance, Catch22 and Big Society Capital.

About the Awards 

Founded by Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) and The Prince’s Accounting for Sustainability Project (A4S) and this year in partnership with Deloitte, the global awards recognise financial leadership in developing sustainable business models that deliver long-term shareholder value.

Finance for the Future’s key ambition is to share best practice as well as create and develop a community of thought leaders and recognised experts in this field.  The programme spans a year of activity with opportunities for linking with a community of sustainable finance leaders, sharing ideas and best practice through case studies, and culminating in an awards celebration evening and interactive networking reception.

For further information on the Awards and how to enter next year click here.

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) has released the 2016 edition of Reporting matters. The 2016 research shows that 76% of the leading companies have improved their disclosures on non-financial information since the first WBCSD baseline report in 2013, with materiality disclosures in particular showing the greatest signs of improvement. Nearly a third of companies (31% total) communicate on the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); 42% of organisations take a “digital first” approach to reporting by putting comprehensive sustainability information on the company’s website; and 28% of companies combined their financial and non-financial reporting into annual reports. The report also shows that GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) guidelines remain the most widely used. Please click to access a press release and the full report on the WBCSD website.

The Center for Corporate Reporting (CCR) and the University of Leipzig, Germany have initiated a joint research project on the benefits and challenges of the  implementation of integrated reporting. First results are available in the study How valuable is Integrated Reporting? – Insights from best practice companies. Arguments for and against the implementation of integrated reporting as a management approach include better understanding of value creation, improved risk management and a more holistic view of the entire company as well as embedding integrated thinking in to the corporate strategy and the support of management against increased costs and work effort, new potential risks, and (currently) a lack of vision and leadership skills. Arguments for and against the implementation of integrated reproting as a reporting format include a more efficient reporting process and step-by-step adjusted reporting processes and experiences against a long implementation process before the initial report is published, unclear division of roles and responsibilities, and limited resources and internal resistance to change. Please click to access a press release and the key results on the CCR website.

In FRED 65 the FRC proposes amendments to FRS 101 to remove the requirement for a qualifying entity to notify its shareholders in writing that it intends to take advantage of the disclosure exemptions in FRS 101. 

We agree with the draft amendments to FRS 101 

Further comments and a full response to all questions raised in the invitation to comment are contained within the full comment letter.

Participants at the meeting will hear about the Financial Reporting Lab’s latest projects including: 

• Key findings of their upcoming report on business model reporting.
• An update on the Lab’s Digital Future project.
• Implementation study on dividend disclosure.

Click for more information, including registration details on the ICAEW website.

The amendments were published by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in June 2016.  The IASB is proposing to amend IFRS 3 Business Combinations to provide clearer application guidance to help distinguish between a business and a group of assets when applying IFRS 3.  The proposed amendments would make it less likely that a small group of assets would be a business.  Among the changes will be to:

• clarify that to be considered a business, an acquired set of activities and assets must include, at a minimum, an input and a substantive process that together have the ability to contribute to the creation of outputs; and
• specify that if substantially all of the fair value of the gross assets acquired (that is, the identifiable assets and unidentifiable assets acquired) is concentrated in a single identifiable asset or group of similar identifiable assets then it is not a business.

In addition the Board proposes clarifying that, when an entity obtains control of a business that is a joint operation, the entity applies the requirements for a business combination achieved in stages, including re-measuring previously held interests in the assets and liabilities of the joint operation to fair value. 

ESMA “welcomes the proposed amendments to the definition of a business” but encourages the IASB to further develop the proposed two-step approach and, in particular, “clarify how the assessment of concentration of fair value (screening test) should be carried out, notably the assessment whether a group of assets is sufficiently homogeneous to be considered a group of similar assets”. 

ESMA also agrees with the proposed amendments to IFRS 11 Joint Arrangements but notes that “this amendment captures only two of the practical issues related to the re-measurement of previously held interest in business combinations”.  ESMA would like a comprehensive project to be undertaken which considers acquisition and disposals of interest in businesses “in order to minimise structuring opportunities”. 

The full comment letter is available on the ESMA website.   

The statement, which builds upon the 2014 protocol agreement, provides provisions for supporting the development of IFRSs as well as the consistent implementation and application of IFRSs worldwide.

For more information, see the press release and Statement of Protocol on the IASB’s website.

Tuesday 18 October

In April the IASB considered the general feedback it received on its proposed Practice Statement on materiality. In this meeting it will discuss some of the specific issues raised. Three and a half hours are scheduled.

The Board will continue its discussions on proposed changes to the Conceptual Framework. The topics being discussed are: testing the proposed asset and liability definitions; executory contracts; unit of account; asymmetry in treating gains and losses; and materiality.

Two issues on the planned amendments to the segment reporting requirements, stemming from the post-implementation review of IFRS 8 Segment Reporting, will also be discussed. 

The IASB will also consider the comment period for the Discussion Paper on Principles of Disclosure, the timing of the next interim review of IFRS for SMEs and the planned Feedback Statement on the agenda consultation. 

Wednesday 19 October

The IASB will continue its discussions of the materiality practice statement and the Conceptual Framework, with an additional two hours scheduled for each topic. The IASB has not given any indication of which issues will be discussed on a particular day.

An hour is scheduled for Financial Instruments with the Characteristics of Equity. The focus is on whether economic incentives that are likely to compel an entity to settle an instrument in a particular way should affect whether it is classified as a liability or equity.

The IASB also has a two hour session on implementation issues. It will be asked to ratify an Interpretation on advance consideration in a foreign currency and to propose amendments to how proceeds from testing an asset are recognised. In September the IASB blocked the publication of a draft Interpretation on the interaction between the impairment requirements in IFRS 9 and IAS 28. The staff have brought back a revised proposal to address the matter through an annual improvement. 

The IASB will be given a brief update of its research programme.

Our pre-meet­ing summaries are available on our meeting note page and will sup­ple­ment them with our popular meeting notes after the meeting.