March

IFRS Foundation Coronavirus update

12 Mar, 2020

The IFRS Foundation has provided updated operational information related to the Coronavirus. The inforation regards the March CMAC meeting, the March IASB meeting, and general information about visits to the IFRS Foundation offices.

The March CMAC meeting (26 March 2020) will be remote access only for observers. CMAC members will only attend if they are based in London and meet the criteria for visits to the IFRS Foundation offices.

The March IASB meeting (17 and 19 March 2020) is currently expected to proceed as planned, however, observers are reminded that digital access is available. Should the IFRS Foundation offices need to be closed, the meeting will be held by video conference and will feature a reduced agenda.

All visitors to the IFRS Foundation offices will need to confirm before arrival that they haven't been to a category 1 or 2 hotspot in the past 14 days and have not experienced any flu-like symptoms in the past seven days.

Please click for the full update on the IASB website.

IFRS Foundation issues Coronavirus update

04 Mar, 2020

The IFRS Foundation has provided an operational update related to the Coronavirus. At this time, the IFRS Foundation expects to continue its current plan of scheduled public meetings and events, except for the March IFRS Advisory Council meeting which has been postponed. In addition, the April ASAF meeting will only meet via remote digital participation.

Public meetings will continue to provide a remote digital option for those who cannot attend in person. Any changes to the schedule will be flagged on the IASB’s meeting calendar.

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

IFRS Foundation issues statement on its work during the COVID-19 pandemic

27 Mar, 2020

The IFRS Foundation has issued a statement, ‘The coronavirus and the Foundation’s work,’ which acknowledges that this is a difficult time for stakeholders and provides information on what work they are doing to support their stakeholders.

In particular, the statement notes that its projects on IBOR reform and amendments to IFRS 17 are still on schedule; however, timelines will be discussed on specific projects during its April meeting. In addition, the publication of several narrow-scope amendments to IFRS Standards have been postpone to May 2020 (see our updated IASB work plan analysis).

The IFRS Foundation has also issued educational materials to support the application of IFRS 9 during the economic uncertainity arising from the coronavirus pandemic and has shifted to virtual meetings.

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

IFRS Foundation Trustees and Due Process Oversight Committee hold February 2020 meeting

26 Mar, 2020

The IFRS Foundation Trustees and the Due Process Oversight Committee (DPOC) met in Brussels on 19–20 February 2020.

Meeting ac­tiv­i­ties included the following:

  • Executive session:
    • Report of the Executive Director — The Trustees received a report from the Executive Director Lee White on ac­tiv­i­ties since the last meeting.
    • Strategy review — The Trustees discussed non-fi­nan­cial reporting including sus­tain­abil­ity reporting and climate change.
    • Gov­er­nance issues — The Trustees approved a change to (1) the IFRS Foundation Constitution regarding the IFRS Advisory Council’s role and (2) amendments to the IFRS Foundation’s Bylaws.
    • Op­er­a­tions analysis — The Trustees received pre­sen­ta­tions on the analysis of jurisdictional compliance with IFRS Standards.
    • Committee reports — The Trustees discussed reports from the Business Process and Tech­nol­ogy Committee, the Audit and Finance Committee, the Human Capital Committee, the Nom­i­nat­ing Committee, and the DPOC. (A report of the DPOC meeting is attached to the meeting summary.)
  • IASB Chairman’s report — The Chair of the IASB provided the Trustees with a general update on the IASB’s technical ac­tiv­i­ties, es­pe­cially on the proposed amend­ments to IFRS 17 and the project to revise IFRS Practice Statement 1 Management Commentary.
  • External en­gage­ment — The Trustees met with IFRS Foundation Monitoring Board. In addition, they held a stake­holder event with the EFRAG entitled Financial reporting: remaining relevant in a changing environment.

For more in­for­ma­tion, see the press release, which also offers an article on the stake­holder event, and the full summary on the IFRS Foun­da­tion Trustees’ and DPOC meeting on the IASB’s website. Our own report of the stakeholder event is available here.

IFRS Interpretations Committee holds March 2020 meeting

09 Mar, 2020

The IFRS Interpretations Committee met on 3 March 2020. We have posted Deloitte observer notes for the technical issues discussed during this meeting.

Item for Continuing Discussion

IFRS 16 Leases—Sale and leaseback with variable payments (Agenda Paper 2): The Committed concluded that the accounting of a sale and leaseback transaction at the date of transaction is clear. However, it recommended standard-setting to clarify the subsequent measurement of the seller-lessee's liability arising from such sale and leaseback with variable payments.

New Issue

IAS 12 Income Taxes—Deferred tax related to a subsidiary's undistributed profits (Agenda Paper 3): The Committee concluded that a reporting entity should recognise deferred tax for the temporary differences arising from undistributed profits of a subsidiary and will publish a tentative agenda decision with amendments suggested in the meeting and explaining why neither an interpretation of, nor an amendment to, IAS 12 is necessary.

Agenda Decisions to Finalise

IAS 21 The Effects of Changes in Foreign Exchange Rates and IAS 29 Financial Reporting in Hyperinflationary Economies—Translation of a hyperinflationary foreign operation (Agenda Paper 4): The Committee decided, unanimously, to finalise the agenda decision with amendments to wording.

IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers—Training costs to fulfil a contract (Agenda Paper 5): The Committee decided, by a majority vote, to finalise all three agenda decisions, with some amended wording.

More information

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

IVSC issues statement on valuation during periods of market uncertainty

19 Mar, 2020

In the context of the COVID-19 outbreak, the International Valuation Standards Council (IVSC) has issued a letter looking at valuation during periods of market uncertainty.

The letter notes that the COVID-19 outbreak and the resulting global pandemic have created a huge amount of uncertainty around the world. The enormous market volatility and the fact that valuers have to value assets when there is limited to no comparable evidence and all markets are facing an uncertain future, can make valuing challenging. The letter can be downloaded from the IVSC website.

The IVSC has also set up a resource page Covid-19: research, analysis and guidance for the valuation profession.

Joint goodwill research paper by ASBJ and HKICPA

24 Mar, 2020

The Accounting Standards Board of Japan (ASBJ) and the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants (HKICPA Staff) have jointly published a research paper 'Goodwill: Improvements to Subsequent Accounting and an Update of the Quantitative Study'.

The research paper presents recent results of quantitative studies on goodwill, updated from the ASBJ's 2016 quantitative study on goodwill. The standard-setters observe that it is likely that impairment losses on goodwill are recognised too late.

Based on this observation, the research paper discusses the subsequent accounting for acquired goodwill. It presents the conclusion that acquired goodwill should be amortised over time on a systematic basis, and the cash generating unit(s) to which acquired goodwill is attributed should be tested for impairment when there is an indication of impairment.

Last week, the IASB published a discussion paper on goodwill and impairment with the preliminary view that the Board should retain the impairment only approach because there is no compelling evidence that amortisation would significantly improve financial reporting.

Please click to access the research paper on the ASBJ website.

March 2020 IASB meeting agenda posted

06 Mar, 2020

The IASB has posted the agenda for its next meeting, which will be held at its offices in London on 17 and 19 March 2020. There are nine topics on the agenda.

The Board will discuss the following:

  • Maintenance and consistent application
  • Agenda consultation
  • Amendments to IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts
  • Disclosure initiative — Subsidiaries that are SMEs
  • Rate-regulated activities
  • Management commentary
  • Disclosure initiative — Targeted Standards-level review of disclosures
  • Financial instruments with characteristics of equity
  • Post-implementation review of IFRS 10–12

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.

March 2020 IASB meeting notes posted

20 Mar, 2020

The IASB met on Tuesday 17 and Thursday 19 March 2020, by video link. The meeting was cut to three topics because of the Covid-19 pandemic. We have posted our comprehensive Deloitte observer notes for all projects discussed during the meeting.

Rate-regulated Activities: The staff have been drafting the ED for the accounting model for regulatory assets and regulatory liabilities since last July. The Board decided to clarify whether some components included in the regulated rates in a period form part of total allowed compensation for the goods or services supplied by an entity in the same period or in a different period. In particular, the Board decided to clarify whether regulatory returns and performance incentives included in the regulated rates for a period form part of the total allowed compensation for to the goods or services supplied in the same period.

Management Commentary: The Board continued its discussions about the objective of management commentary, and decided that it should support primary users in assessing an entity’s prospects of future cash flows and assessing management’s stewardship of the entity’s economic resources. The primary users are existing and potential investors, lenders and other creditors and they are expected to have a reasonable knowledge of business and economic activities. The staff also introduced their thinking on developing disclosure objectives for various types of content to be included in management commentary.

Amendments to IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts: The Board decided to defer the effective date of IFRS 17 (incorporating the amendments) to annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2023 and to extend the fixed expiry date of the temporary exemption from applying IFRS 9 in IFRS 4 to the same date. The staff expect that the amendments will be issued in the second quarter of 2020.

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

New UK Accounting Plus resource page

27 Mar, 2020

We have set up an UK Accounting Plus resource page on accounting considerations related to COVID-19. The page includes news items and resources in connection with COVID-19 developments that highlight some of the key accounting and disclosure issues to be considered by entities that may arise as a result of COVID-19.

Please click to access our new resource page.

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