November 2021 IASB meeting notes posted

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23 Nov, 2021

The IASB met in London on Monday, Tuesday and Friday of the week beginning 15 November 2021. We have posted our comprehensive Deloitte observer notes for all projects discussed during the meeting.

The following topics were discussed:

Third Agenda Consultation: The Board published its Request for Information (RfI) Third Agenda Consultation in March 2021. The staff provided the Board with a summary of the feedback on the RfI. Most respondents commented on the strategic direction and balance of the Board’s activities and supported the Board’s current strategic direction. In terms of specific projects, most respondents rated climate-related risks, cryptocurrencies and related transactions, and intangible assets as high priority. Many rated going concern, pollutant pricing mechanisms, and the statement of cash flows and related matters as high priority. The Board gave initial reactions to the feedback presented but did not make any decisions.

Goodwill and Impairment: In September 2021, the Board decided to prioritise making tentative decisions about proposing disclosures about business combinations and perform further analysis of the feedback received on the subsequent accounting for goodwill. In this meeting, the Board continued to make tentative decisions about the package of disclosures about business combinations. The Board decided to require disclosure of quantitative information about expected synergies from a business combination but not to define ‘synergies’. The Board decided that rather than requiring an entity to explain when expected synergies from a business combination are expected to be realised they should be required to disclose information about when the benefits from synergies are expected to start, and the expected duration of those benefits.

Primary Financial Statements: The Board decided to retain ‘providing insight into management’s view of an aspect of performance’ as the objective of the requirements for MPMs and ‘management’s view of an aspect of performance’ in the definition of MPMs. The Board also voted in favour of establishing a rebuttable presumption that a subtotal of income and expenses included in public communications outside financial statements represents management’s view of an aspect of performance, allow an entity to rebut the presumption when there is reasonable and supportable information demonstrating that a subtotal of income and expenses does not represent management’s view of an aspect of performance and provide application guidance on how to assess whether there is reasonable and supportable information to support the rebuttal. The Board also decided to narrow the scope of public communications considered for the purposes of applying the definition of MPMs to exclude oral communications, transcripts, and social media posts. The Board agreed to add application guidance clarifying how an entity applies the requirement to describe an MPM in a clear and understandable manner that does not mislead users.

Board Work Plan—Timing of PIRs: The Board decided to begin the PIR of the impairment requirements of IFRS 9, and IFRS 15 in the second half of 2022 and consider in the second half of 2022 when to begin the PIR of the hedge accounting requirements of IFRS 9, and IFRS 16.

Post-implementation Review of IFRS 10-12: The purpose of this session was for the Board to conclude which, if any, topics it could consider further. The staff have identified as medium priorities: the relationship between substantive rights and protective rights; a change in relevant activities during the life-cycle of an investee; assessing non-contractual agency relationships and accounting for disproportionate share of output compared to share of ownership. The Board did not vote on the topics and instead requested that the staff prepare a further paper setting out the proposed strategy for PIRs including the relationship between PIRs and agenda consultations. After that, the Board will decide which topics from the IFRS 10-12 PIR to take forward. 

Dynamic Risk Management: The Board decided to revise the definition of the target profile to “the range (risk limits) within which the current net open risk position can vary while still being consistent with the entity’s risk management strategy”. They also decided introducing the risk mitigation intention, described as “the extent to which an entity intends to mitigate the current net open risk position through the use of derivatives”. The Board agreed that no further refinements to the DRM model are needed in respect of the designation of a portion of prepayable assets.

Second Comprehensive Review of the IFRS for SMEs Standard: The Board continued to deliberate specific sections of the IFRS for SMEs Standard that could be aligned with IFRS requirements. The Board decided against aligning Section 20 of the IFRS for SMEs with IFRS 16 at this point. They decided to revisit the decision at a later time. However, the Board agreed with aligning the IFRS for SMEs with the 2011 amendments to IAS 19 in respective of the recognition requirement for termination benefits. The Board decided to retain the accounting policy option in paragraph 28.24 of the IFRS for SMEs Standard to present actuarial gains and losses either in profit or loss or in other comprehensive income.

Rate-regulated Activities: In January 2021, the Board published Exposure Draft ED/2021/1 Regulatory Assets and Regulatory Liabilities. Most respondents agreed with the proposals to present all regulatory income minus all regulatory expense, including regulatory interest income and regulatory interest expense, as a separate line item immediately below revenue. Most respondents who commented agreed with the focus of the proposed overall disclosure objective on information about an entity’s regulatory income, regulatory expense, regulatory assets and regulatory liabilities. Some suggested the Board develop a broader overall objective of providing users of financial statements with information about the nature of the regulatory agreement, the risks associated with it and its effects on an entity’s financial performance, financial position or cash flows. Most respondents did not support the proposed requirement to apply the Standard retrospectively on initial application. Most respondents who commented asked for a longer transition period. The Board gave initial comments on the topics discussed but did not make any decisions.

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

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