The proposed update includes elements to reflect

• amendments to the new and old insurance contracts Standard, IFRS 17 and IFRS 4, issued in June 2020; and
• amendments to IAS 16 regarding proceeds before the intended use issued in May 2020.

For more information, see the press release and proposed update on the IASB’s website. Comments are requested by 14 September 2020.

Among the four recommendations in the call to action for the G 20 leaders are:

• Focus on public sector transparency and integrity. This recommendation notes that responding to COVID-19 has driven an enormous increase in public sector spending. Integrity and transparency in the public sector are essential to the social contract between governments and their citizens. IFAC therefore calls on the G20 to adopt International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) and accrual accounting at all levels of government.
• Resist regulatory fragmentation. IFAC urges the G20 and all stakeholders to agree on a global framework for non-financial reporting that incorporates integrated reporting principles.

Please click for the press release and access to the call to action on the IFAC website.

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

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 progressed in more detail their discussion from the February meeting.
  • IFRS Foundation Advisory Council — The Trustees received a presentation from the Chair of the Advisory Council on his work in assessing how the Council can best provide strategic advice for the Trustees and the Board.
  • 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 continuing discussion in the EU about endorsement of IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts.

For more information, see the press release and the full summary on the IFRS Foundation Trustees’ and DPOC meeting on the IASB’s website.

New members would serve three-year terms, starting on 1 January 2021, renewable once. This year, the Trustees are par­tic­u­larly seeking interest from corporate gov­er­nance or­gan­i­sa­tions, private equity firms, or­gan­i­sa­tions involved in wider corporate reporting, tech­nol­ogy or­gan­i­sa­tions and or­gan­i­sa­tions rep­re­sent­ing small and medium-sized entities.

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

The standards and amendments affected include: 

• IPSAS 41 Financial Instruments;
• IPSAS 42 Social Benefits;
• Long-term Interests in Associates and Joint Ventures (Amendments to IPSAS 36) and Prepayment Features with Negative Compensation (Amendments to IPSAS 41);
• Collective and Individual Services (Amendments to IPSAS 19); and
• Improvement to IPSAS, 2019. 

The exposure draft can be accessed on the IPSASB website. Comments are requested by 15 August 2020.

The objective of the event is to collect input from the community of interested preparers that were unable to participate in the field-tests organised by EFRAG. The insights of the field testing will be presented and discussed with a panel of preparers. The audience will be able to contribute to the discussion through polling surveys and Q&A sessions.

Please click for more information on the EFRAG website.

The Board will discuss the following:

• Disclosure initiative — Accounting policies
• Extractive activities
• IBOR reform and its effects on financial reporting — Phase 2
• Maintenance and consistent application
• Management commentary
• IFRS Taxonomy oral 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.

Disclosure Initiative: Accounting Policies: In August 2019, the Board published the Exposure Draft (ED) Disclosure of Accounting Policies, which proposed amendments to IAS 1 and IFRS Practice Statement 2. At this meeting, the IASB decided to amend the transition requirements to require entities to disclose material accounting policy information for the current period and disclose comparative accounting policy information if it is relevant to understanding the current period’s financial statements. They also decided that the amendments will apply to annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2023 with early application permitted and that the effective date of the amendments to IAS 8 resulting from the Accounting Policies and Accounting Estimates project be changed to the same date.

Management Commentary: The IASB supported the recommended potential guidance on reporting financial resources. The IASB discussed requirements and possible supporting guidance on reporting progress in managing key matters, a disclosure objective for performance and position; and possible guidance supporting that objective, including on identifying key facets of performance and position that need to be addressed in management commentary. They also discussed measures and indicators.

Extractive Activities: The staff papers summarise their assessment on how activities within the scope of IFRS 6 would be accounted for in the absence of that Standard, applying the requirements in IAS 16 and IAS 38.

The staff concluded that costs incurred during the exploration phases would not meet the requirements of IAS 16 or IAS 38 for recognition as an asset. The staff also assessed expenditure acquiring the legal rights from a third party and concluded that it could meet the definition of an intangible asset and the recognition criteria, but that application of IAS 36 without the specific requirements in paragraphs 18-22 of IFRS 6 would generally lead to an immediate write‑off of exploration and evaluation assets. Applying the guidance in paragraphs 54 and 55 of IAS 38, exploration and evaluation expenditure incurred subsequent to the acquisition of the legal right would be recognised as an expense as it is incurred. No decisions were made.

Maintenance and Consistent Application—Lack of exchangeability: In April, the IASB decided on how to amend IAS 21 to address the accounting when the spot exchange rate is not observable (because of a lack of exchangeability between two currencies). The IASB decided that the proposed changes be applied prospectively. The staff will prepare the ED, which will be open for comment for 120 days.

IBOR Reform and the Effects on Financial Reporting: The IASB discussed feedback on the proposals for qualifying hedging relationships and groups of items. The IASB decided to permit, rather than require, entities to reset cumulative fair values to zero for the purpose of performing the retrospective effectiveness assessment as proposed in paragraph 102S of the ED and confirmed the proposals in the ED related to the accounting for qualifying hedging relationships subject to clarifications and drafting suggestions as explained in the staff analysis. That completes the deliberations and the staff expect to finalise the amendments.

IFRS Taxonomy: The staff expect to finalise the update the IFRS Taxonomy for the COVID-19-related amendments to IFRS 16 with no changes. There was no paper for this session.

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

The new members were appointed for a three-year term beginning 1 July 2020. SMEIG members can serve up to three terms.

Please click for the IASB press release announcing the reappointments.