The FRC's Chief Executive, Stephen Haddrill, will open the event with a recap of the FRC's work over the last year, followed by discussion of the Kingman review, the impact of Brexit and FRC governance. 

The agenda and registration details for the meeting are available on the FRC website.

Below is an analysis of all changes that were made to the work plan since our last analysis on 17 December 2018.

Standard-setting projects

• No changes.

Maintenance projects

• Accounting Policies and Accounting Estimates — The IASB will decide on the project direction in April 2019 (formerly Q2 2019).
• Amendments to IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts — An exposure draft is expected in Q2 2019 (formerly H1 2019).
• Deferred Tax Related to Assets and Liabilities Arising from a Single Transaction — An Exposure Draft is expected in Q2 2019 (formerly H1 2019).
• Fees in the ‘10 per cent’ Test for Derecognition — An exposure draft is expected in Q2 2019 (formerly H1 2019).
• IBOR Reform and its Effects on Financial Reporting — Formerly listed as a research project, an exposure draft is expected in Q2 2019 (formerly H1 2019). — NB This update actually reflects a December 2018 decision of the Board.
• Lease Incentives — An exposure draft is expected in Q2 2019 (formerly H1 2019).
• Onerous Contracts — Cost of Fulfilling a Contract — Exposure draft feedback is expected in Q2 2019 (formerly H1 2019).
• Subsidiary as a First-time Adopter — An exposure draft is expected in Q2 2019 (formerly H1 2019).
• Taxation in Fair Value Measurements — An exposure draft is expected in Q2 2019 (formerly H1 2019). 
• Updating a Reference to the Conceptual Framework — An exposure draft is expected in Q2 2019 (formerly H1 2019). 

Research projects

• Business Combinations under Common Control — A discussion paper is expected in H1 2020 (formerly just listed as 2020).
• Goodwill and Impairment — The next milestone was changed to a discussion paper, instead of the previously-listed "discussion paper or exposure draft."
• Disclosure Initiative — Principles of Disclosure — A project summary is expected in March 2019 (formerly listed as Q1 2019).
• Financial Instruments with Characteristics of Equity — Discussion paper feedback is expected in March 2019 (formerly Q1 2019).
• Provisions — New project added to the work plan; the IASB plans to review research in the second half of 2019. — NB This update actually reflects a December 2018 decision of the Board.

Other projects

• IFRS Taxonomy Update — 2018 General Improvements — A date of February 2019 was added for the proposed update feedback.
• IFRS Taxonomy Update — Common Practice (IFRS 13) — The next milestone was changed from "analyse feedback" to "final update" with an expected date of March 2019. — NB This update seems somewhat premature since the feedback received will not by anlysed by the ITCG until its 31 January meeting.
• Revisions to the Preface to IFRS Standards — Project removed from the work plan. — NB This changed entry actually reflects an October 2018 decision of the Board.

The above is a faithful comparison of the IASB work plan at 17 December 2018 and at 25 January 2019. For access to the current IASB work plan at any time, please click here.

EFRAG ​welcomes the IASB’s efforts to clarify the requirements in IAS 37 regarding the assessment of whether, in a contract, the unavoidable costs of meeting the obligations under the contract exceed the economic benefits expected to be received under it. However, EFRAG notes that the proposed amendments would affect the onerous assess​ment not only for long-term construction contracts previously in the scope of IAS 11 but for all contracts in the scope of IAS 37. Consequently, EFRAG encourages the IASB to further assess the expected impact of the proposals.

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

The Board continued to assess concerns and implementation challenges raised by stakeholders about the requirements in IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts. At this meeting the Board considered four issues: insurance acquisition cash flows for renewals outside the contract boundary; reinsurance contracts held—onerous underlying insurance contracts; reinsurance contracts held—underlying insurance contracts with direct participation features; and recognition of the contractual service margin in profit or loss in the general model. In all cases the Board decided to propose amendments to IFRS 17.  

The Board decided to proceed with the publication of an Exposure Draft to amend IAS 12 Income Taxes, in relation to the deferred tax on assets and liabilities arising from a single transaction. 

The staff also gave oral updates on the projects on Rate-regulated Activities and Extractive Activities.

Please click to access the detailed notes taken by Deloitte observers for the entire meeting.

Applying the criteria for evaluating proposed amendments agreed on in October 2018, the Board came to the following conclusions:

The staff notes that papers on the remaining topics from the list of issues presented at the October meeting will be presented to the Board in the first quarter of 2019.

The IASB has published a press release saying it is making progress with its IFRS 17 discussions.

The updates in comparison to the 2017 version of the document include:

• a new section that provides more detail on how to communicate company-specific information;
• new examples illustrating how to find the correct element when tagging the primary financial statements; and
• other clarifications and improvements.

Please click to access the updated guide on the IASB website.

The agenda for the DPOC meeting is summarised below.

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

The report is the third in a series of reports by the Lab and follows its reports on XBRL and Blockchain.

The report, Artificial Intelligence – How does it measure up?, explains what artificial intelligence is, where its use might make sense in corporate reporting, and explores some of the possible and current use cases for the technology.
 
The report considers a range of uses of the technology in the production, distribution and consumption of corporate reporting.  These uses range from AI tools in the finance function, to investors’ use of AI to find investment relevant information.  It also highlights some of the key decisions and considerations that boards and others need to think about when using AI.

The report concludes that "it is not a question of will AI become important for corporate reporting, but when".  It also indicates that as AI develops, "it is important that all stakeholders understand how reporting empowered by AI needs to evolve to ensure that quality, trusted corporate reporting output is maintained and enhanced".

A press release and the full report are available on the FRC website.

We have updated our meeting note page, which offers access to the agenda and our pre-meeting summaries of the agenda papers to be discussed, accordingly.

The statement notes that IOSCO Principle 16 states that issuers should provide full, accurate, and timely disclosure of financial results, risk, and other information which is material to investors’ decisions. In this context, the IOSCO statement emphasises that ESG matters, though sometimes characterised as non-financial, may have a material short-term and long-term impact on the business operations of the issuers as well as on risks and returns for investors and their investment and voting decisions. Therefore, statement notes:

IOSCO encourages issuers to consider the materiality of ESG matters to their business and to assess risks and opportunities in light of their business strategy and risk assessment methodology. When ESG matters are considered to be material, issuers should disclose the impact or potential impact on their financial performance and value creation. In doing so, issuers also are encouraged to give insight into the governance and oversight of ESG-related material risks.

Please click to access the full statement on the IOSCO website.