The Director of Local Audit will play an integral role in establishing a new local audit unit, ahead of the FRC assuming the “Systems Leader” role for local authority financial reporting and audit, as part of its transition to the Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority (ARGA). 

He will report to Sarah Rapson, the FRC’s Executive Director of Supervision.

Further information is available on the FRC website. 

Items for initial consideration

IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts—Quantity of the Benefits Provided under a Group of Annuity contracts: The Committee received a submission about how to identify, applying IFRS 17:B119(a), the quantity of benefits provided under a group of immediate annuity contracts. The staff conclude that in determining the quantity of benefits provided in each period an entity applies the constant annual benefit approach. Under that approach, the benefits are determined using the claim amount payable for the period. The staff recommend publishing a tentative agenda decision to that effect.

IFRS 9 Financial Instruments and IFRS 16 Leases—Rent Concessions: Lessors and Lessees: The Committee received a submission about the application of IFRS 9 and IFRS 16 by both a lessor and a lessee in accounting for a particular rent concession. The staff conclude that the lessor estimates the expected credit losses (ECL) on the operating lease receivable by taking into account its expectations of forgiving lease payments. The lessor also applies both the derecognition requirements in IFRS 9 and lease modification requirements in IFRS 16 for the rent concession granted. The staff recommend publishing a tentative agenda decision to that effect. In addition, for the lessee accounting on the forgiven lease payments, the staff suggest a standard-setting project (annual improvement) given the possible alternative interpretations of the principles and requirements in IFRS 16.

IAS 32 Financial Instruments: Presentation—Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPAC): Classification of Public Shares as Financial Liabilities or Equity: The Committee received a submission asking whether a SPAC classifies public shares it issues as financial liabilities or equity instruments applying IAS 32. The staff concluded that the matter is too narrow for the Committee to consider in isolation and is better suited to be addressed as part of the IASB’s Financial Instruments with Characteristics of Equity (FICE) project.

Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPAC): Accounting for Warrants at Acquisition: The Committee received a submission about how an entity accounts for warrants on acquiring a SPAC. The staff analysed the accounting treatment step by step and concluded that IFRS 2 is applied in accounting for instruments issued to acquire the stock exchange listing service and IAS 32 is applied in accounting for instruments issued to acquire cash and assume any liabilities related to the SPAC warrants. The staff recommend publishing a tentative agenda decision to that effect.

Comment letters on tentative agenda decision

IAS 7 Statement of Cash Flows—Demand Deposits with Restrictions on Use: In September 2021, the Committee published a tentative agenda decision on whether an entity includes demand deposits with restrictions on use as a component of cash and cash equivalents. Most respondents to the tentative agenda decision agreed (or did not disagree) with the technical analysis and conclusions but raised some concerns. The staff responded to the comments and recommend finalising the agenda decision with some editorial changes

Administrative matters

Work in progress: The following new matter has not yet been presented to the Committee: Lease payments linked to cadastral value (IFRS 16).

The full agenda for the meeting and our com­pre­hen­sive pre-meet­ing summaries can be found here.

The Board will discuss the following:

• Agenda consultation
• Extractive activities
• Financial instruments with characteristics of equity
• Post-implementation review of IFRS 9
• Maintenance and consistent application
• Primary financial statements
• Business combinations under common control
• Second comprehensive review of the IFRS for SMEs
• Management commentary

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.

The agenda items for discussion are as follows: 

• IFRS 17: CSM Allocation for Annuities
• IFRS 17: Draft of Final ECA
• IFRS 17: Draft Feedback Statement and Draft Due Process Compliance Statement
• Supplier Finance Arrangements
• Non-Current Liabilities with Covenants
• Items for Noting

The meeting agenda and papers and details of how to register are available on the UKEB website. 

The meeting recording can be found on the UKEB website here.

The SRB membership comprises three Chapters:

• European Stakeholder Organisations (up to eight members)
• National Organisations (up to nine members, including reserved seats for the national standard setters of France, Germany, Italy, and Spain)
• Civil Society Organisations (five members)

A full list of members is available on the EFRAG website. A Chair of the SRB is yet to be announced.

The full agenda for the meeting is summarised below:

Agenda papers for this meeting are available on the IFRS Foundation website.

The UKEB will establish six advisory groups that will provide specialist knowledge and information as input into its technical decision-making.

The four standing advisory groups that will be chaired by Board members, will be for:

• Academics,
• Accounting Firms & Institutes,
• Investors, and
• Preparers.

Two ad hoc advisory groups will also be established for Financial Institutions and Rate Regulated Activities. These will be chaired by senior members of the Secretariat.

The recruitment campaigns will be staggered with recruitment of members for the Accounting Firms and Institutes group and the Investor group commencing first.

On 23 March 2022, the campaigns to recruit members for the Preparer Advisory Group (PAG) and Academic Advisory Group (AAG) were also launched.

Update 8 April 2022 - the deadline to recruit members to the Investor Advisory Group (IAG) has been extended to 26 April 2022.  Click here for more information (link to FRC website).

Further information on the roles, and how to apply, is available on the UKEB website.

With the EU and individual countries imposing sanctions, European accountants need to consider how these, and other consequences of the war, affect their activities. Therefore, the article on the Accountancy Europe website draws their attention to points of alert on accounting, audit, and reporting as well as anti-money laundering and cybersecurity. In addition, link at the top of the article leads to an overview of the overview of responses from Accountancy Europe members and national accountancy bodies, including in other languages.

Specifically, the Trustees are seeking individuals who have a preparer focus and individuals with direct and relevant experience in the application of IFRSs. Members are expected to attend approximately six two-day meetings each year held in London. Terms of membership will begin 1 July 2022 and will expire on 30 June 2025. Membership is unpaid, but the IFRS Foundation meets members' reasonable expenses of travel on IFRS IC business.

Applications are accepted until 8 April 2022.

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

The Committee will discuss the following:

• IFRS 17 — Quantity of the benefits provided under a group of annuity contracts
• IAS 7 — Demand deposits with restrictions on use
• IFRS 9 and IFRS 16 — Rent concessions: Lessors and lessees
• IAS 32 — Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPAC): Classification of public shares as financial liabilities or equity
• Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPAC): Accounting for warrants at acquisition
• 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.