June

ICAEW event - Rebuilding Trust in Business

12 Jun, 2017

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) will be launching its new Corporate Governance Group at an event on 20 June 2017. Speakers will discuss the topic of 'Rebuilding Trust in Business'.

The Corporate Governance Group was created to lead the discussion on best practice in corporate governance. Attendees will be able to contribute to the discussion on the challenge of building and retaining trust, and explore the nature of trust between society and business.

Registration details and further information for the event can be found on the ICAEW website.

Agenda for the July 2017 ASAF meeting

12 Jun, 2017

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has released an agenda for the meeting of the Accounting Standards Advisory Forum (ASAF), which is to be held at the IASB's offices in London on 6-7 July 2017.

The agenda for the meeting is sum­marised below:

Thursday, 6 July 2017 (9:15-17:30)

  • Disclosure initiative — Principles of disclosure — Discussions related to the proposals in the discussion paper.
  • Goodwill and impairment — Discussions on the ASBJ’s research paper, ‘Too little, too late,’ as well as feedback from Global Preparers Forum.
  • Property, plant and equipment: Proceeds before intended use (proposed amendments to IAS 16) — Discussions on the upcoming exposure draft.
  • Improvements to IFRS 8 Operating Segments (Proposed amendments to IFRS 8 and IAS 34) — Discuss views from ASAF members and preparers on four proposed amendments to IFRS 8 and IAS 34.
  • Primary Financial Statements — Gather views on the certain tentative decisions.

Friday, 7 July 2017 (9:00-13:15)

  • Post-implementation review of IFRS 13 — Gather preliminary feedback on the Request for Information.
  • Rate-regulated activities — Discussions on the proposed accounting model.
  • Wider corporate reporting — Overview on wider corporate reporting and whether to consider an update to Practice Statement Management Commentary.
  • Project updates and agenda planning.

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

EFRAG Board and TEG appointments

12 Jun, 2017

EFRAG announces that Chris De Noose has been appointed as EFRAG Board member and Ana Cortez has been appointed as EFRAG TEG member.

Chris de Noose replaces Jorge Gil Lozano; his appointment is until 31 October 2017, from when the composition of the EFRAG Board will be renewed. Ana Cortez replaces Christian Chiarasini who resigned from EFRAG TEG as per the end of May.

Please see the EFRAG press release for more information.

Accountancy Europe paper on 'Standard setting in the 21st century'

12 Jun, 2017

Accountancy Europe (formerly FEE) has published a paper that takes a look at how standard-setting for financial reporting and auditing is organised now, and what could be improved to keep this process relevant for the needs of the 21st century.

The paper argues that technology and globalisation of business and the accountancy profession have changed what stakeholders expect of standard-setting, especially around the complexity and the speed of standard-setting as well as its legitimacy questions have been raised. Accountancy Europe therefore argues that "there is a need to re-open the debate as to what the standard setting model for the 21st century could look like". According to the paper, the following key principles should be considered in any debate about future standard-setting:

  • legitimacy
  • independence
  • transparency
  • public accountability
  • due process
  • balanced membership

Please click to download the paper (52 pages) from the Accountancy Europe website.

New IASB website launched

10 Jun, 2017

The IASB has launched its redesigned and restructured website. This news item offers an brief overview of the new structure and provides links to the most frequently searched for content.

There are two major reasons for the IASB to move to a new website: (i) new technological developments have come about that the IASB wanted to use and share with its readers and (ii) the structure behind the old website did not reflect the IASB's needs and priorities anymore - information was scattered about the place in a not intuitive manner and was often difficult to locate.

On the new technology, two points deserve mentioning. The new website includes 'follow me' options for individual projects and groups that allow readers to tailor the information flow from the IASB according to their needs. And also, the IASB has redesigned its website in a responsive manner, so the site is now also easily accessible from a range of devices, including mobile phones.

On the structure, the following aspects deserve pointing out:

  • The new website follows a strict access to projects through the work plan. The work plan itself can be filtered by kind of project (research, standard-setting, maintenance) and by project name, project type and projects with documents that are open for comment. Under each project you can then filter for project stage, news, meeting notes, published documents etc.
  • The IASB acknowledges the different user groups it has - from the homepage you can directly go to resources for academics, the accounting profession, investors, the media, national standard-setters, preparers, regulators, students.

Below is a list of links to the most frequently sought after sub pages on the IASB website:

The IASB press release and a 'getting started' page will give you more information about how to use and navigate the new site. For historical information, the IASB has also set up an archive - please note, however, that information in the archive will not be updated anymore and that it is not clear how long the archive will remain available.

Please do also note the following points about the new site:

  • The IASB has currently set a 2014 cut-off date for its new website. For older information, we suggest you use our IAS Plus meeting note archive and our UK Accounting Plus news archive.
  • With the IASB moving to a completely restructured website, most of the links and bookmarks you have saved will be broken. IAS Plus has been in close contact with the IASB through the development process and, we have replaced our links with links to the IASB archive for all historical information. However, on the both sites you might come across broken links.

June 2017 IASB meeting agenda posted

09 Jun, 2017

The IASB has posted the agenda for its next meeting, which will be held at its offices in London on 21 and 22 June 2017. There are nine topics on the agenda.

The Board will discuss the following:

  • Primary financial statements
  • Disclosure initiative: Materiality practice statement
  • Accounting policies and accounting estimates
  • Rate-reg­u­lated ac­tiv­i­ties
  • Conceptual framework
  • IFRS implementation issues
  • Prepayment features with negative compensation
  • Dynamic risk management
  • Definition of a business

The full agenda for the meeting can be found here. We will post any updates to the agenda, our com­pre­hen­sive pre-meet­ing summaries as well as observer notes from the meeting on this page as they become available.

Agenda for the June 2017 ITCG meeting

09 Jun, 2017

The agenda is available for the next meeting of the IFRS Taxonomy Consultative Group (ITCG), which will be held in London on 12 June 2017.

The agenda is summarised below:

Monday 12 June 2017 (9:30-16:10)

  • Welcome
  • Better Communication
    • Primary financial statements
    • Disclosure initiative
    • IFRS Taxonomy
  • Use of the IFRS Taxonomy
    • ESMA
    • SEC
  • A preparer's guide to using the IFRS Taxonomy
  • Proposed changes to the IFRS Taxonomy
    • Introduction
    • Small group discussions
    • Feedback from small group discussions
  • IFRS Taxonomy tables
  • Handling of entity-specific disclosures
  • IFRS Taxonomy implementation notes to indicate signage
  • Interactive commenting on the IFRS Taxonomy

Agenda papers for this meeting are available on the IASB website.

IASB releases podcast on IFRS 17

08 Jun, 2017

The IASB staff has released a podcast discussing IFRS 17 'Insurance Contracts' and the May 2017 IASB meeting.

In the podcast, IASB Vice-Chair Sue Lloyd, Board member Darrel Scott, and Education Director Matt Tilling discuss:

  • implementation and maintenance activities discussed at the May Board meeting;
  • the May 2017 standard IFRS 17; and
  • other activities including (1) the Trustees meeting in Tokyo and (2) a new agreement the IFRS Foundation signed with the World Bank.

The podcast can be accessed through the press release on the IASB website.

Final EFRAG draft comment letter on disclosure principles

08 Jun, 2017

The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has issued a final draft comment letter on the IASB discussion paper DP/2017/1 ‘Disclosure Initiative — Principles of Disclosure’.

The IASB published its DP for comment on 30 March 2017. Final comments are due to the IASB by 2 October 2017.

In its draft comment letter, EFRAG notes the IASB's "lack of progress" related to the disclosure initiative project as a whole because it "has not yet reached standards-level stage." The letter also states "EFRAG considers that the IASB DP’s description [of the 'disclosure problem'] lacks sufficient emphasis or focus to provide a clear sense of direction for the next phases of the project." The letter urges the IASB to prioritise the standards-level review of disclosure requirements.

Further, EFRAG considers 'disclosure overload' a main problem and notes its concern that the IASB's DP does not mention "the extent to which the proposals in the IASB DP might address concerns about disclosure overload." EFRAG also suggests that the focus of the IASB's principles of disclosure project not be limited to "the structure of the notes or the location of information but rather aim to develop principles to identify why, when and where information should be disclosed."

The draft comment letter goes on to state:

EFRAG is concerned about the lack of clarity in the overlap with other IASB projects, in particular the interactions with the Materiality and Primary Financial Statements projects. We are concerned that a piecemeal approach may create confusion for constituents on the boundaries of the various projects and we recommend that the IASB address these issues comprehensively within a single project.

EFRAG also laments that "a number of issues" identified in its joint 2012 DP, Towards a Disclosure Framework for the Notes, were not addressed in the IASB's principles of disclosure DP. EFRAG asks the IASB to consider (1) the boundaries of the financial statements; (2) "the implications of developments in technology on the disclosure problem and on the presentation of financial statements in general in greater depth;" and (3) expanding the tiers of disclosure requirements approach.

Comments on EFRAG's draft comment letter are requested by 11 September 2017. For more information, see the press release and the draft comment letter on the EFRAG website.

Please note that this final draft comment letter supersedes the earlier first draft comment letter published in May. It may amend some preliminary responses included herein and/or include additional questions to constituents.

ECB comments on IFRS 9 transition arrangements

08 Jun, 2017

The European Central Bank (ECB) has written a letter to the European Parliament regarding the impact of IFRS 9 'Financial Instruments' on capital ratios.

In its letter the ECB states that:

  • The ECB is of the view transitional arrangements towards the full application of IFRS 9 should not be at the discretion of credit institutions, but either mandatory or at the discretion of the competent authorities.
  • The ECB prefers a static approach, rather than the impact being recalculated at every reporting date during the transition period.
  • The ECP points out that the Basel standards would allow jurisdictions up to five years to complete the transition and do not allow neutralisation.
  • The ECB notes that it is also possible that the increase in provisions will be partially or even fully neutralised by other effects, such as changes in asset classification stemming from the general implementation of IFRS 9.

Please click to access the full letter on the ECB website.

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