An agenda and documents for the conference call can be found on the EFRAG website.

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

The new webcast is part of a series on the implementation of IFRS 17 and can be accessed on the IASB website. Earlier webcasts and webinars on IFRS 17 are available through an archive.

The ITCG discussed the following:

• Update on IFRS Taxonomy ac­tiv­i­ties related to certain publications expected to be issued in November.
• Proposed new data model for defined benefit plans.
• Updated on IFRS Taxonomy filing profiles and its future plans for the project.

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

The European national enforcers of financial information monitor and review financial statements published by issuers with securities traded on a regulated European market and who prepare their financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and consider whether they comply with IFRS and other applicable reporting requirements, including relevant national law.

ESMA has developed a confidential database of enforcement decisions taken by individual European enforcers as a source of information to foster appropriate application of IFRS.

The publication of enforcement decisions is designed to inform market participants about which accounting treatments European national enforcers may consider as complying with IFRS, i.e. whether the treatments are considered as being within the accepted range of those permitted by IFRS. ESMA considers the publication of the decisions, together with the rationale behind them, will contribute to a consistent application of IFRS in the European Union.

Topics covered in the latest batch of extracts, covering the period from June 2015 to February 2017, include:

Click for access to the full report (link to ESMA website). The ESMA has also published an updated overview of all enforcement decisions ever published.

The PRA highlights that “it is important that NEDs engage with IFRS 9 and have the support they need to challenge management effectively”. Although IFRS 9 will have implications from an accounting perspective, it will also have wider implications for other aspects of a bank, including considerations relevant to the PRA. The PRA are particularly interested in:

• the interaction of expected credit loss (ECL) with regulatory capital;
• the implications of ECL for credit risk management practices; and
• transparency and disclosure.

With that in mind, the note includes four questions that NEDs should discuss with/challenge their boards on in relation to implementing IFRS 9:

• What is your firm’s approach to transitional arrangements?
• Does your board understand the impact of the new provisioning for ECL and how it affects different types of lending and overall capital planning – both in business-as-usual and stressed conditions?
• Is your firm’s governance upgraded sufficiently to cope with higher volume of forward looking credit risk data?
• Will disclosures enable investors and other users of financial data to transition effectively to IFRS 9?

It also has a section directed at those NEDs on the audit committee and ‘essential reading’ that NEDs will find helpful.

The full note is available on the PRA website.

The ED contains two approaches for accounting for social benefits, the obligating event approach and an optional insurance approach that is based on the assumption that some social benefits are similar in practice to insurance contracts.

Entities are permitted, but not required, to use the insurance approach where a social benefit scheme meets certain criteria. The ED does not include requirements for the insurance approach, but directs entities to apply relevant international or national accounting standards by analogy. The ED clarifies this to mean IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts or national standards that have adopted substantially the same principles as IFRS 17.

Please click to access the press release on the IPSASB website. The IPSASB's consultation page offers access to the ED and additional background material.

Comments are requested by 31 March 2018.

The Update reports on the EFRAG Board meeting on 10 October, the EFRAG TEG conference call on 17 October and the EFRAG TEG meeting on 25-26 October.  The Update also lists EFRAG publications issued in October:

• EFRAG's draft endorsement advice letter and invitation to comment relating to the endorsement for use in the EU of the IASB's publication Prepayment Features with Negative Compensation (Amendments to IFRS 9);
• EFRAG's final comment letter in response to the IASB's Discussion Paper DP/2017/1 Disclosure Initiative - Principles of Disclosure;
• EFRAG's draft comment letter in response to the IASB's Exposure Draft ED/2017/6 Definition of Material;
• EFRAG's feedback statement following the publication of its final comment letter on the IASB's Exposure Draft ED/2017/2 Improvements to IFRS 8 Operating Segments (Proposed amendments to IFRS 8 and IAS 34);
• EFRAG's summary report on the academic workshop it hosted on 5 September 2017 to debate ideas on some of the main issues around measurement (e.g. uncertainty and discounting) and how these could be investigated;
• EFRAG's summary report on the joint user outreach event organised together with EFFAS, the IASB, the AIAF and the OIC in Milan on 18 September 2017 covering discussions on Better Communication in Financial Reporting, Goodwill and Insurance Contracts; and
• EFRAG's summary report on the joint stakeholder conference organised together with the OIC in Rome on 9 October 2017 covering discussions on Impact Analysis and Better Communication in Financial Reporting. 

Please click to download the October EFRAG Update from the EFRAG website.

The guidance sets out minimum requirements that must be met, provides some best practice guidance and also indicates the underlying principles that should be adopted in preparing the information.

The guidance is applicable to all central government bodies that fall within the scope of the Greening Government Commitments (i.e. departments, non-ministerial departments, agencies and Non departmental public bodies) and which produce annual reports and accounts in accordance with HM Treasury’s Government Financial Reporting Manual (FReM). These bodies are required to report on sustainability (unless exempt from doing so).

The guidance is not applicable to the devolved governments of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales and local government entities.

The press release and guidance are available on the HM Treasury website.

The purpose of the TRG is to seek feed­back on po­ten­tial issues related to im­ple­men­ta­tion of IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts. By an­a­lyz­ing and dis­cussing po­ten­tial im­ple­men­ta­tion issues, the TRG will help the IASB de­ter­mine whether ad­di­tional action is needed, such as pro­vid­ing clar­i­fi­ca­tion or issuing other guid­ance.

The agenda for the meeting is as follows:

Agenda papers for this meeting are avail­able on the IASB's Web site.