The first podcast (25 minutes) focuses on the June 2019 meeting of the Interpretations Committee. Among the topics covered are questions about applying the new financial instruments, revenue recognition and leases Standards — IFRS 9, IFRS 15 and IFRS 16 — as well as the accounting for holdings of cryptocurrencies.

Please click to access the podcast through the press release on the IASB website.

The webinar is a recording that took place to provide national standard-setters with an overview of the proposed amendments to IFRS 17 right after the exposure draft was published.

Please click to access the 25 minute webinar through the press release on the IASB website.

The FRC has made its expectations of UK boards very clear stating:

The Boards of UK companies have a responsibility to consider their impact on the environment and the likely consequences of any business decisions in the long-term. They should therefore address, and where relevant report on, the effects of climate change (both direct and indirect).  Reporting should set out how the company has taken into account the resilience of the company’s business model and its risks, uncertainties and viability in both the immediate and longer-term in light of climate change. Companies should also reflect the current or future impacts of climate change on their financial position, for example in the valuation of their assets, assumptions used in impairment testing, depreciation rates, decommissioning, restoration and other similar liabilities and financial risk disclosures.

In its statement, the FRC highlights the following activities which it has undertaken (or is planning to undertake) to assists companies, their Boards and investors to fulfil their responsibilities:

• The updated UK Corporate Governance Code requires Boards to discuss how the matters (which include environmental matters) set out in section 172 of the Companies Act 2006 have been considered by the company and report on how opportunities and risk to the future success of the business have been considered and addressed.
• The Strategic Report requires companies to report on their principal risks and environmental matters when material. The FRC’s Guidance on the Strategic Report has been updated to encourage better reporting on non-financial matters and the requirement for companies to report on the responsibilities of directors under section 172, that includes how they have regard to the environment in their business operations.
• The new UK Stewardship Code will require investors to integrate stewardship and investment, taking into account material environmental, social and governance issues, including climate change.
• The FRC’s project on the Future of Corporate Reporting will also consider the need for improved non-financial/sustainability information from companies.

In order to monitor how companies and their advisors fulfil their responsibilities, the FRC will, as part of its Corporate Reporting Review, continue to review whether companies are complying with the statutory disclosure requirements of the strategic report (which includes reporting on principal risks and uncertainties) as well as any financial statement implications of climate change.  As part of its Audit Quality Review, the FRC will also include consideration of the adequacy of the auditors’ work on principal risk disclosures, including climate risk and the financial statement implications of climate change.

Later in the year, the Financial Reporting Lab will provide practical guidance on how companies can best consider and report on climate related risk and opportunities. 

Click for:

• Press release (link to FRC website)
• Green Finance Strategy (link to BEIS website)

The position paper sets out the seven key principles report preparers should follow for achieving such transparency and accountability: materiality, completeness, accuracy, balance, clarity, comparability and reliability. It notes that these common principles are a reminder that the CRD participants have similar expectations from companies in preparing and disclosing information but also states that transparency needs accountability in order to drive effective behaviour or performance: disclosing in itself is not enough if those holding to account do not have the power to influence the behaviour or performance.

The position paper follows an earlier paper on SDGs and the future of corporate reporting and a consultation better alignment through an online survey and a series of global roundtables held in Australia, Colombia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Poland, South Africa, US and UK from March until June 2019.

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

• Press release
• Access to the position paper
• Announcement of consultation results
• Recording of a webinar on the consultation results

Whilst the FTSE 250 companies are still behind, the latest figures also indicate that significant progress has been made and that “for the first time, the FTSE 250 could meet the 33% target for women in senior leadership positions if current progress is maintained”.

Figures published reveal:

• FTSE 100 is at 32.1% up from 30.2%
• FTSE 250 is at 27.5% up from 24.9%
• FTSE 350 is at 29.1% up from 26.7%
• There are now four FTSE 350 all-male boards.

The 2019 Hampton-Alexander report will be published in November following on from the 2018 report.

Further details are available on the BEIS website.

In the context of the proposed amendments, the IASB has posted a webcast with IASB Chair Hans Hoogervorst, IASB Vice-Chair Sue Lloyd and IFRS Foundation staff member Sam Prestidge that discusses some of the main elements of due process around agenda decisions.

The 13 minute webcast can be accessed through the press release on the IASB website.

The IPTF's discussion document for the 21 May 2019 meeting is now available and states the following view of the Task Force:

Countries with three-year cumulative inflation rates exceeding 100%:

• Angola
• Argentina
• Democratic Republic of Congo
• South Sudan
• Sudan
• Venezuela

Countries with projected three-year cumulative inflation rates exceeding 100%:

• Islamic Republic of Iran
• Yemen
• Zimbabwe

Countries where the three-year cumulative inflation rates had exceeded 100% in recent years:

There are no countries in this category for this period.

Countries with recent three-year cumulative inflation rates exceeding 100% after a spike in inflation in a discrete period:

• Suriname

Countries with projected three-year cumulative inflation rates between 70% and 100% or with a significant (25% or more) increase in inflation during the current period

• Liberia
• Libya

The full list, including exact numbers, detailed explanations of the calculation of the numbers, and observations of the Task Force are available on the CAQ website. We also offer the overview of the IPTF's assessment of hyperinflationary jurisdictions at the end of our summary of IAS 29.

The alignment dashbord was updated for the June 2019 IPSASB meeting. It also offers a table showing for which IFRSs there is no IPSAS equivalent and whether the IPSASB intends to fill that gap.

Please click to access the updated dashboard on the IPSASB website.

The exposure draft contains three proposed amendments to IFRS 3 'Business Combinations' that would update an outdated reference in IFRS 3 without significantly changing the requirements of the standard.

EFRAG agrees with all three proposed amendments.

Comments on EFRAG's draft comment letter are requested by 17 August 2019. For more information, see the press release and the draft comment letter on the EFRAG website.

The update reports on the EFRAG Board meeting on 4 June 2019, the EFRAG Board conference call on 13 June 2019, the EFRAG TEG conference call on 12 June 2019, the meeting of the European Lan Steering Group on 18 June 2019 and the plenary meeting of the Project Task Force on Climate-related Reporting on 21 June 2019. The update also lists an EFRAG publication issued in June:

• EFRAG’s final comment letter in response to the IASB Exposure Draft ED/2019/1 Interest Rate Benchmark Reform (Proposed amendments to IFRS 9 and IAS 39);
• EFRAG’s draft comment letter in response to the IASB Exposure Draft ED/2019/3 Reference to the Conceptual Framework (Proposed amendments to IFRS 3);
• EFRAG’s draft comment letter in response to the IFRS Foundation Exposure Draft Proposed amendments to the IFRS Foundation Due Process Handbook;
• EFRAG’s draft comment letter in response to the IASB Exposure Draft ED/2019/2 Annual Improvements to IFRS Standards 2018-2020; and
• EFRAG’s hedge accounting questionnaire under IFRS 9/IAS 39 for European insurers that apply IFRS Standards.

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