April

Agenda and pre-meeting summaries available for the April 2020 IASB supplementary meeting

14 Apr, 2020

The IASB is holding a supplementary IASB meeting to consider COVID-19-related matters on Friday 17 April 2020.

Accounting for COVID-19-related rent concession: The staff recommend that the Board amend IFRS 16 to provide lessees with an exemption from assessing whether a COVID-19-related rent concession is a lease modification. Entities applying the exemption would account for the changes as if they were not lease modifications. The exemption would have to be applied retrospectively but comparative figures would not be restated. A lessee would recognise any difference arising on initial application of the amendment in opening retained earnings (or other component of equity, as appropriate) in the annual reporting period that includes the date of initial application. The exemption would be effective immediately, when the final amendment is issued.

The staff also recommend that the Board ask the Trustees to approve a 14-day comment period for the proposed amendment. The staff think it would be possible to finalise an amendment to IFRS 16 by the end of May 2020, if the Board agrees with its recommendations and the Trustees approve a 14-day comment period.

Board timelines, impact of COVID-19: The staff set out proposed changes to project timelines, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some projects continue to be high priority despite the unprecedented global crisis including the project on IBOR Phase 2 and the project on amendments to IFRS 17.

The staff recommend that the Board:

  • (a) delay by one year the effective date of Classification of Liabilities as Current or Non-current (Amendments to IAS 1) to annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2023.
  • (b) extend the consultation period by (approximately) three months for the following consultation documents:
    • the Exposure Draft General Presentation and Disclosures;
    • the Request for Information Comprehensive Review of the IFRS for SMEs Standard; and
    • the Discussion Paper Business Combinations—Disclosures, Goodwill and Impairment.

The publication dates of forthcoming major consultation documents planned for 2020 will also be delayed.

For the delay in the IAS 1 amendment the staff recommend the changed effective date be exposed with a 30 day comment period.

The full agenda for the meeting and our pre-meet­ing summaries can be found here. We will update this page for any changes to the agenda and our Deloitte observer notes from the meeting as they become available.

Agenda for the May 2020 Emerging Economies Group meeting

29 Apr, 2020

The agenda is available for the upcoming meeting of the IASB's Emerging Economies Group (EEG), which is being held by remote participation on 11 and 12 May 2020.

The agenda for the meeting is summarised below:

Monday 11 May 2020 (11:00-15:30)

  • Welcome
  • Discussion paper on goodwill and impairment
    • Introduction to the discussion paper
  • IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts
    • Update on the amendments to IFRS 17
    • Discussion on implementation activities
  • Update on IASB projects
  • Applying IFRSs in 2020
    • Discussion on the impact of Covid-19

Tuesday 12 May 2020 (11:00-15:15)

  • 2019 Comprehensive review of the IFRS for SMEs
    • Discussion by EEG members on the request for information
  • Primary financial statements
    • Discussion by EEG members on the exposure draft
  • Management commentary
    • Introduction to the forthcoming exposure draft

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

    Applicants invited for IFRS Interpretations Committee membership — Deadline extended

    07 Apr, 2020

    In March 2020, the Trustees of the IFRS Foundation invited applications for candidates to fill four vacancies on the IFRS Interpretations Committee. The deadline for applications has now been extended to 8 May 2020.

    Specifically, the Trustees are seeking individuals who have a preparer focus. For more information, see the updated release on the IASB’s website.

    April 2020 IASB meeting agenda posted

    10 Apr, 2020

    The IASB has posted the agenda for its next meeting, which will be held via videoconference on 21–23 April 2020. There are nine topics on the agenda.

    The Board will discuss the following:

    • Impact of covid-19 on Board timelines
    • Leases and COVID-19
    • Management Commentary
    • Financial instruments with characteristics of equity
    • Maintenance and consistent application
    • Post-implementation review of IFRS 10–12
    • Disclosure Initiative—Subsidiaries that are SMEs
    • Amendments to IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts (oral update)
    • SME Standard review and update

    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.

    April 2020 IASB meeting notes posted

    29 Apr, 2020

    The IASB met on 21–23 April 2020. We have posted our comprehensive Deloitte observer notes for all projects discussed during the meeting.

    Financial Instruments with Characteristics of Equity: At the December 2019 Board meeting, the Board discussed the staff’s preliminary analysis on how the fixed-for-fixed requirement in IAS 32 could be clarified. At this meeting the Board decided to articulate its foundation principle by stating that in a derivative on own equity that meets the fixed-for-fixed condition, the amount of functional currency units to be exchanged with each underlying equity instrument is fixed and does not vary other than (if applicable) with preservation adjustments and passage of time adjustments. The Board also supported the staff recommendations for how the preservation and passage of time adjustments should be expressed. The staff set out their plan for outreach with stakeholders on potential disclosures that can be developed as part of the project.

    Post-implementation review of IFRS 10, 11 and 12: The Board decided to proceed with the PIR and publish (in December) a Request for Information to gather more information about the application of these Standards.

    Disclosure Initiative—Subsidiaries that are SMEs: In the January 2020 meeting, the Board agreed to move the project from the research programme to the standard-setting programme. The objective is to develop a reduced disclosure IFRS Standard that would apply on a voluntary basis to subsidiaries that are SMEs, adapted from the disclosure requirements of the IFRS for SMEs. The staff expect to start drafting an ED or a DP in Q4 2020.

    Maintenance and Consistent Application:

    • Commodity loans: In 2017, the IFRS Interpretations Committee (Committee) received a question about a particular commodity loan transaction and observed that the transaction may not be captured within the scope of any IFRS Standard. The Board decided to refer to commodity transactions as a potential project in its Request for Information on the 2020 Agenda Consultation.
    • Sale and leaseback with variable payments. At its March 2020 meeting, the Committee discussed a submission about a sale and leaseback transaction with variable payments. The Committee published a tentative agenda decision but its discussions highlighted that IFRS 16 is not as complete as it could be regarding the subsequent measurement of the lease liability arising in a sale and leaseback transaction. They therefore recommended that the Board make a narrow-scope amendment to IFRS 16. The Board decided to amend IFRS 16 to state that for lease modifications or changes in the lease term of a sale and leaseback transaction, the seller-lessee remeasures the lease liability by discounting the revised expected payments for the lease using a revised discount rate.
    • Lack of exchangeability. At its November 2019 meeting, the Board decided to propose an amendment to IAS 21 to address the accounting when the spot exchange rate is not observable (because of a lack of exchangeability between two currencies). The Board supported the staff recommendations for a definition of a lack of exchangeability, indicators for assessing exchangeability and disclosure requirements.
    • Deferred tax related to assets and liabilities arising from a single transaction. In July 2019 the Board published the Exposure Draft Deferred Tax related to Assets and Liabilities arising from a Single Transaction, proposing an amendment to IAS 12 to narrow the scope of the recognition exemption (which affects initial recognition of leases and decommissioning liabilities). The staff presented a summary of feedback received. Although a majority of Board members thought the staff should continue with the project, several members questioned whether the benefits of the change would exceed the costs.

    Second comprehensive review of the IFRS for SMEs Standard: The staff have published a survey on 20 April 2020, with comments to be received by 27 July 2020, for stakeholders who do not have an existing process or do not have sufficient capacity or resources to submit a comment letter.

    Management Commentary: The Board discussed disclosure objectives and the type of information that would support those objectives, focusing on business model, strategy and resources and relationships.

    There was also an oral update on amendments to IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts. The amendments are expected to be finalised at the end of June 2020.

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

    April 2020 IFRS Interpretations Committee meeting agenda posted

    16 Apr, 2020

    The IFRS Interpretations Committee has posted the agenda for its next meeting, which will be held by video conference on 29 April 2020.

    The Committee will discuss the following:

    • Administrative matters
    • IAS 12 — Multiple Tax Consequences of Recovering an Asset
    • Supply Chain Financing — Reverse Factoring
    • Work in progress

    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.

    Deloitte launches new webcast series on accounting considerations related to COVID-19

    10 Apr, 2020

    The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is affecting economic and financial markets; virtually all industries are facing challenges associated with the economic conditions resulting from efforts to address it. We have set up a series of webcasts that discusses certain key IFRS accounting considerations related to conditions that may result from the COVID-19 pandemic.

    The significance of the individual issues discussed in the webcasts will vary by industry and by entity, but we believe that the topics covered will be the most pervasive and difficult to address. The first webcast in the series discusses judgements and estimates, events after the reporting period and non-financial assets within the scope of IAS 36. Further webcasts will be made available over time.

    Please click here to find an overview of the webcasts that have been published so far.

    DPOC discusses shortened comment periods for exposure drafts the IASB might decide to publish

    16 Apr, 2020

    The Due Process Oversight Committee (DPOC) of the IFRS Foundation held a conference call today to discuss shortened comment letter periods for two exposure drafts the IASB might decide tomorrow to publish in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    At tomorrow's meeting, the IASB will discuss a staff recommendation that the IASB delay by one year the effective date of Classification of Liabilities as Current or Non-current (Amendments to IAS 1) to annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2023. The delay would require publishing an exposure draft and the staff recommend the changed effective date be exposed with a 30 day comment period. The DPOC followed the staff's explanation that this is a simple amendment and that stakeholders would not be unduly burdened in responding on an accelerated timeframe and would benefit from clarity being available rather sooner than later. All DPOC members voted to approve the 30-day comment period should the IASB decide to move forward with an exposure draft.

    The staff also recommend that the IASB amend IFRS 16 Leases to provide lessees with an exemption from assessing whether a COVID-19-related rent concession is a lease modification. The staff recommend that the Board ask the Trustees to approve a 14-day comment period for the proposed amendment. (A comment period of less than 30 days cannot be approved by the DPOC alone, it requires approval of 75% of Trustees.) As the amendment would need to be finalised quickly so that it would benefit a large number of entities and also be available for entities with March 2020 year-ends (the staff think it would be possible to finalise an amendment to IFRS 16 by the end of May 2020), the DPOC agreed unanimously to recommend to the Trustees to approve a 14-day comment period should the IASB decide to move forward with an exposure draft. There will be a non-public Trustee meeting tomorrow.

    Note: On 17 April 2020, the IFRS Foundation published a written report of the meeting, which is available here.

    DPOC to hold conference call on 16 April

    15 Apr, 2020

    The Due Process Oversight Committee (DPOC) of the IFRS Foundation has published an agenda and papers for a conference call to be held on 16 April 2020.

    The DPOC will discuss:

    • Proposed shortened comment letter periods for potential exposure drafts on (1) Classification of Liabilities as Current or Non-current (Amendments to IAS 1) and (2) IFRS 16 Leases related to covid-19 related rent concessions.
    • Updated on the Due Process Handbook review.

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

    DPOC to hold conference call on 16 April

    15 Apr, 2020

    The Due Process Oversight Committee (DPOC) of the IFRS Foundation has published an agenda and papers for a conference call to be held on 16 April 2020.

    The DPOC will discuss:

    • Proposed shortened comment letter periods for potential exposure drafts on (1) Classification of Liabilities as Current or Non-current (Amendments to IAS 1) and (2) IFRS 16 Leases related to covid-19 related rent concessions.
    • Updated on the Due Process Handbook review.

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

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