June

New Deloitte climate change website

12 Jun, 2019

Deloitte, in collaboration with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), has launched a dedicated climate change website and video learning programme.

The joint initiative is designed to help businesses and finance professionals learn more about tackling climate change. Therefore, the new website offers video learning resources, setting out the impact that climate change is having on humanity and business equipping businesses to implement change, manage risks and take advantage of the challenges and opportunities created by climate change. A key feature of the programme is learning about considerations for financial statements and how to translate climate change effects into tangible measurements.

In addition, the new website offers interviews with key drivers of climate action in business and links to additional resources and guidance.

Please click to access and explore the new climate change website.

Report from the March 2019 Emerging Economies Group meeting

10 Jun, 2019

The 17th meeting of the IASB's Emerging Economies Group (EEG) was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 25–27 March 2019. The IASB has published a full report from the meeting.

Par­tic­i­pants at the meeting, which was chaired by IASB member Amaro Gomes, discussed rate-regulated activities, application of IAS 29 in Argentina, business combinations under common control, goodwill and impairment, extractive activities, IFRS for SMEs Standard, IFRS Interpretations Committee on IAS 21, and an IASB update.

The next meeting of the EEG will be held December 2019 in Xiamen City, China.

Please click for access to the full report (nine pages) on the IASB website.

June 2019 IASB meeting agenda posted

07 Jun, 2019

The IASB has posted the agenda for its next meeting, which will be held at its offices in London on 17–19 June 2019. There are seven topics on the agenda.

The Board will discuss the following:

  • Primary financial statements
  • Rate regulated activities, includes an education session
  • Goodwill and impairment
  • SME Standard review and update
  • Financial instruments with characteristics of equity
  • Business combination under common control
  • Implementation matters — Property, plant and equipment: Proceeds before intended use (amendments to IAS 16)

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.

ESMA integrates latest IFRS updates in its ESEF taxonomy

07 Jun, 2019

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published a draft amendment to the European Single Electronic format (ESEF) to update the core taxonomy to the latest updates to IFRSs.

The core taxonomy currently included in ESEF is the 2017 IFRS Taxonomy. The draft amendment aims to replace that version with the most recent one published by the IFRS Foundation in March 2019. The ESEF will be amended on a yearly basis to reflect updates to the IFRS Taxonomy published by the IFRS Foundation.

The draft follows the publication of the ESEF in the Official Journal of the EU on 29 May 2019.

Please click for the following additional information on the ESMA website:

Research into assets and liabilities

07 Jun, 2019

In October 2016, the third IASB Research Forum was held in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. One of the papers presented was 'Assets and Liabilities: When do they Exist?'. IASB discussant of the paper was Board member Mary Tokar. The paper has now been finalised and published together with the discussion by Ms Tokar.

The paper investigates whether the current references to probability in standard setters' conceptual definitions of assets and liabilities cause individuals to believe that the probability of a future transfer of economic benefits must be above some meaningful threshold for an asset or a liability to exist.

Please click for the following additional information:

ICAEW webinar on the European Single Electronic Format (ESEF)

06 Jun, 2019

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) will be hosting a webinar to help companies prepare for the incoming European Single Electronic Format (ESEF).

In June 2019 the European Commission published a regulation requiring all listed companies across the European Union to submit their annual financial statements digitally as Inline XBRL documents for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2020.

The webinar will explain the new legislation and to what extent it will impact upon the reporting process for companies.

Further details are available on the ICAEW website.
 

Reporting on climate risk increasing but still needs more financial impact analysis

06 Jun, 2019

The Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) set up by the Financial Stability Board (FSB) to develop voluntary, consistent climate-related financial risk disclosures for use by companies in providing information to lenders, insurers, investors and other stakeholders has published a second status report providing an overview of the extent to which companies in their 2018 reports included information aligned with the core TCFD recommendations published in June 2017.

The TCFD surveyed disclosures of over 1,100 firms from diverse sectors with broad geographical representation (142 countries). It found that:

  • Disclosure of climate-related financial information has increased since 2016, but is still insufficient for investors.
  • More clarity is needed on the potential financial impact of climate-related issues on companies.
  • Of companies using scenarios, the majority do not disclose information on the resilience of their strategies.
  • Mainstreaming climate-related issues requires the involvement of multiple functions.

The FSB has asked the TCFD to deliver another status report to the FSB in September 2020. The TCFD will undertake further work during the course of the next year to promote and monitor adoption of the TCFD recommended disclosures. It is also considering additional work to: (i) clarify elements of the TCFD’s supplemental guidance, (ii) develop process guidance around how to introduce and conduct climate-related scenario analysis, and (iii) identify business-relevant and accessible climate-related scenarios.

Please click for the press release and the status report on the FSB website.

EFRAG draft comment letter on proposed annual improvements to IFRS standards 2018-2020

05 Jun, 2019

The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has issued a draft comment letter on the IASB exposure draft ED/2019/2 ‘Annual Improvements to IFRS Standards 2018-2020 Cycle’.

EFRAG generally agrees with the IASB proposal; however, it proposes that IAS 39 should be amended in the same way as the proposed amendments to IFRS 9. In additional, the EFRAG suggests that further guidance be added to IFRS 16 when reimbursement of leasehold improvements maybe be considered as a lease incentive.

Comments on EFRAG's draft comment letter are requested by 5 August 2019. For more in­for­ma­tion, see the press release and the draft comment letter on the EFRAG website.

IAASB announces new chair

04 Jun, 2019

The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) has announced the appointment of Thomas Seidenstein as new chair.

Mr Seidenstein will begin his three-year term on 1 July 2019, where he will succeed Arnold Schilder. Mr Seidenstein was recommended for the position by the Interim Nominating Committee, endorsed by the IFAC Board, and approved by the Public Interest Oversight Board.

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

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