February

Gender pay gap reporting regulation enforcement delayed to October

26 Feb, 2021

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has announced that due to the continued effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, it will only commence enforcement action against employers failing to report their gender pay gap after 5 October 2021.

The Gender Pay Gap Reporting Regulations require employers with 250 or more relevant employees to report their gender pay gap.

The regulations state that public sector bodies covered by the regulations must report their data by 30 March. Private sector employers across Great Britain are required to report by 4 April. The changes for the 2020/21 reporting year give those required to meet the regulations an additional six months to report their data before legal action begins, although employers are encouraged to submit their data for 2020/2021 before October where possible.

The press release is available on the EHRC website.

Agenda for March 2021 CMAC meeting

26 Feb, 2021

Representatives from the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) will meet with the Capital Markets Advisory Council (CMAC) by video conference on 11 March 2021. The agenda for the meeting has been released.

The full agenda for the meeting is sum­marised below:

Thursday, 11 March 2021 (10:00-14:10)

  • Welcome and in­struc­tions for virtual meeting
  • Post-implementation review of IFRS 9
    • Dis­cus­sion about the application of IFRS 9 and items to consider for the post-implementation review.
  • Post-implementation review of IFRS 10, IFRS 11, and IFRS 12
    • Dis­cus­sion about whether the disclosures a company provides relating to IFRS 12 are useful; including understanding if any information is missing or unnecessary.
  • Rate-regulated activities
    • Discussion on the exposure draft.
  • Business combinations under common control
    • Dis­cus­sion of on the Board’s preliminary views in discussion paper, Business Combinations under Common Control.

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

IOSCO calls on IASB and FASB to collaborate on goodwill accounting

26 Feb, 2021

The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) has released a statement urging the International Accouting Standards Board (IASB) and the US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) to collaborate closely with each other on accounting for goodwill.

Both, IASB and FASB are currently working on goodwill projects, but some of their ideas seem to be diverging.

In July 2019, the FASB issued an invitation to comment Identifiable Intangible Assets and Subsequent Accounting for Goodwill, which noted that the FASB is considering whether to change the subsequent accounting for goodwill for cost-benefit reasons. In December 2020, during the deliberation of the responses, the FASB tentatively decided to reintroduce amortisation of goodwill (please see the decision summary on the FASB website).

The IASB has also been discussing restoring amortisation of goodwill. In December 2017, the Board decided tentatively not to reintroduce amortisation and to focus on improving the impairment model instead. Consequently, the discussion paper DP/2020/1 Business Combinations — Disclosures, Goodwill and Impairment published in March 2020 notes: "The Board reached a preliminary view that it should retain an impairment-only approach." The IASB has not started deliberations on the feedback received yet.

The IOSCO statement now notes:

We observe that when the requirements under U.S. GAAP are as aligned as possible with those under IFRS on accounting for goodwill, there is greater comparability in financial statements prepared under IFRS and U.S. GAAP. In our experience, the likelihood of achieving a converged outcome is greatly enhanced when the two Boards work collaboratively, including similar timelines with their respective projects. We believe that maintaining and enhancing convergence in this area should continue to be an important consideration for the IASB and FASB.

The IOSCO has consistently supported the objective of a single set of high-quality accounting standards that are consistently and rigorously applied and notes that this view is also shared by the leaders of G20 and other international organisations. Most recently, the IOSCO noted in its comment letter on the IASB discussion paper (submitted in December 2020):

The G20 leaders have emphasized the importance of achieving a single set of high-quality global accounting standards that are consistently and rigorously applied. We believe the argument by the G20 is still relevant for this issue and therefore we call on the IASB and the FASB to increase their efforts to achieve convergence.

Please click for the following additional information:

IOSCO calls for globally consistent, comparable, and reliable sustainability standards

25 Feb, 2021

The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) has released a statement noting the urgent need for global sustainability standards and supporting a Sustainability Standards Board (SSB) under the IFRS Foundation.

The IOSCO Board has reviewed the progress made over the past year since the publication of its report Sustainable Finance and the Role of Securities Regulators and IOSCO in April 2020. IOSCO concludes that there is an urgent need to improve the consistency, comparability, and reliability of sustainability reporting, with an initial focus on climate change-related risks and opportunities, which would subsequently be broadened to other sustainability issues.

The IOSCO Board identified three priority areas for improvement in sustainability-related disclosures by companies and asset managers:

  1. Encouraging globally consistent standards;
  2. promoting comparable metrics and narratives; and
  3. coordinating across approaches.

The IOSCO Board expresses a clear commitment to work with the IFRS Foundation Trustees and other stakeholders to advance these priorities. IOSCO notes that its engagement with the Trustees will focus on the following objectives:

  • Establishing an SSB with a strong governance foundation. IOSCO welcomes the announcement by the Trustees of the IFRS Foundation on 2 February 2021 signalling the next phase of their work towards establishing an SSB under the IFRS Foundation structure as they have received clear feedback on their September 2020 consultation that the IFRS Foundation should play a role in this area. IOSCO looks forward to assessing the final proposals by the Trustees of the IFRS Foundation and to consider the future endorsement of the proposed SSB and its standards similar to its role in the endorsement and oversight of international accounting standard-setting by the IASB.
  • Building on existing efforts. IOSCO encourages the SSB to leverage the content of existing sustainability-related reporting frameworks. IOSCO welcomes the initiative of the alliance of leading sustainability reporting organisations and their prototype for an approach to climate-related disclosures published in December 2020; IOSCO encourages further consideration of this prototype as a potential basis for the SSB to develop climate-related reporting standards.
  • Encouraging a “building blocks” approach. IOSCO encourages a “building blocks” approach to establishing a global sustainability reporting system. This would provide a consistent and comparable baseline of sustainability-related information that is material to enterprise value creation, while also providing flexibility for coordination on reporting requirements that capture wider sustainability impacts. IOSCO aims to support ongoing international coordination and to help encourage global consistency on wider sustainability disclosure requirements. To this end, IOSCO is ready to explore the establishment of a multi-stakeholder expert consultative committee within the IFRS Foundation structure.

In conclusion, IOSCO repeats the statement in its response to the Trustees' consultation that together, the IFRS Foundation’s initiative and the parallel collaborative initiative of an alliance of sustainability reporting organisations can further efforts to facilitate comparable high-quality international standards that provide the content that capital markets need, within a transparent standard-setting architecture with a robust and inclusive governance structure.

Please click to access the full statement on the IOSCO website. The IOSCO work programme for 2021-2022 also notes IOSCO's intention to play a leading role in addressing the urgent goal of improving the completeness, consistency, and comparability of sustainability reporting and to further explore the establishment of a global comprehensive corporate reporting system under the IFRS Foundation.

IASB issues podcast on latest Board developments (February 2021)

24 Feb, 2021

The IASB has released a podcast featuring IASB Chair Hans Hoogervorst and Vice-Chair Sue Lloyd to discuss deliberations at the 4 February 2021 supplementary meeting and the 16–17 February 2021 IASB meeting.

Specifically, the podcast discusses the following topics:

  • IFRS 16 and covid-19-related rent concessions;
  • Financial instruments with characteristics of equity;
  • Extractive activities;
  • Comprehensive review of the IFRS for SMEs Standard;
  • Dis­clo­sure ini­tia­tive — Sub­sidiaries that are SMEs.

The podcast (12 minutes) can be accessed through the press release on the IASB website.

Also, see the detailed notes taken by Deloitte observers at the 16–17 February 2021 and 4 February 2021.

EFRAG launches podcast series on the post-implementation reviews of IFRS 10, IFRS 11, and IFRS 12

24 Feb, 2021

The EFRAG has released a first podcast on the post-implementation review of IFRS 10 ‘Consolidated Financial Statements’, IFRS 11 ‘Joint Arrangements’ and IFRS 12 ‘Disclosure of Interests in Other Entities’, which provides an introduction into the post-implementation review process.

On 9 December 2020, the IASB issued a request for information seeking comments from stakeholders to identify whether IFRS 10, IFRS 11, and IFRS 12 provide information that is useful to users of financial statements; whether there are requirements that are difficult to implement and may prevent the consistent implementation of the standards; and whether unexpected costs have arisen in connection with applying or enforcing the standards.

EFRAG has now launched a series of four podcasts (each about ten minutes long). In addition to the first podcast released today, which offers an introduction into the post-implementation review process, there will be three more podcasts each focusing on one of the standards involved in the post-implementation review. The podcasts will be released each Wednesday, so the next episodes on IFRS 10, IFRS 11, and IFRS 12 are expected on 3, 10 and 17 March, respectively.

For more information, see the press release on the EFRAG’s website.  A link to all of the podcasts is available on the EFRAG website here.

Deloitte supports the IASB's proposal to extend the practical relief regarding COVID-19-related rent concessions

24 Feb, 2021

We have commented on IASB exposure draft ED/2021/2 'Covid-19-Related Rent Concessions beyond 30 June 2021 (Proposed amendment to IFRS 16)', which was published by the IASB on 11 February 2021. The exposure draft proposes to extend the May 2020 amendment that provides lessees with an exemption from assessing whether a COVID-19-related rent concession is a lease modification.

We support the extension of the availability of the practical expedient so that it applies to rent concessions that affect payments originally due on or before 30 June 2022 instead of 30 June 2021, for the reasons stated in the basis of conclusions on the exposure draft. We also agree with the proposed effective date and transition provisions.

Please click to download our full comment letter.

Agenda for the March 2021 ASAF meeting

24 Feb, 2021

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has released an agenda and meeting papers for the meeting of the Accounting Standards Advisory Forum (ASAF), which is to be held by remote participation on 18-19 March 2021.

The agenda for the meeting is summarised below:

Thursday, 18 March (11:00-14:30)

  • Primary financial statements
    • Staff’s proposed course of action to respond to feedback on the exposure draft
  • Agenda consultation
    • Main areas of the forthcoming request for information and possible outreach activities
  • Management commentary
    • Introduction of the forthcoming exposure draft and possible outreach activities

Friday, 19 March (11:00-14:30)

  • Post-implementation review of IFRS 9
    • ASAF members' views on the overall experience of applying IFRS 9 in their jurisdiction
    • Priority of matters ASAF members think should be considered by the IASB
  • Post-implementation review of IFRS 10, IFRS 11 and IFRS 12
    • Initial feedback from jurisdictions on the request for information
  • Extractive activities
    • Update on the project and feedback on the scope and direction of the project
  • Project update and agenda planning

For more information, please see the agenda and meeting papers on the IASB's website.

Report from the November 2020 Emerging Economies Group meeting

23 Feb, 2021

The 20th meeting of the IASB's Emerging Economies Group (EEG) was held via remote participation on 30 November–1 December 2020. The IASB has published a full report from the meeting.

Par­tic­i­pants at the meeting, which was chaired by IASB member Tadeu Cendon, discussed the disclosure initiative projects related to accounting policies, subsidiaries that are SMEs, and targeted standards-level review of disclosures. In addition, the EEG discussed lack of exchangeability, goodwill and impairment, post-implementation review of IFRS 10, IFRS 11, and IFRS 12 as well as an update on IASB projects.

Please click for access to the full report on the IASB website.

Agenda for the March 2021 DPOC meeting

23 Feb, 2021

The Due Process Oversight Committee (DPOC) will hold its 2 March 2021 by conference call.

The agenda for the DPOC meeting is sum­marised below.

Tuesday, 2 March 2021 (13:40–14:15)

  • In­tro­duc­tion and actions from the DPOC meeting held on 13 October 2020
  • Mon­i­tor­ing the Board and In­ter­pre­ta­tions Committee’s com­pli­ance with due process:
    • Technical ac­tiv­i­ties: Key issues and update
  • IFRS Taxonomy Consultative Group (ITCG):
    • Amendments to the Charter and changes to membership
  • Five-yearly consultation on the Board’s work plan: Update on progress
  • DPOC matters
    • Cor­re­spon­dence: update since the agenda was cir­cu­lated
  • Summary

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

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