February

Report on the January 2022 IFRS Advisory Council meeting

07 Feb, 2022

A summary report has been released of the meeting of the IFRS Advisory Council held by remote participation on 11 January 2022.

The participants discussed:

  • Agenda consultation — Main discussion points were the strategic direction and balance of the IASB’s activities, criteria for assessing the priority of accounting issues, and financial reporting issues that could be added to IASB’s work plan. Another topic that saw comprehensive discussion was the connectivity between the IASB and the ISSB. Lastly, participants discussed suggestions to partner further with national standard setters.
  • Post-implementation reviews — Participants discussed how to prioritise projects arising from post-implementation reviews.

The full meeting summary (8 pages) is available on the IASB's website.

Two webcasts on supplier finance arrangements

04 Feb, 2022

The IASB has released two webcasts featuring IASB member Zach Gast introducing the exposure draft 'Supplier Finance Arrangements' published by the IASB in November 2021.

The first webcast (approx. 2 minutes) provides background information about reverse factoring and other supplier finance arrangements. The second webcast (approx. 9 minutes) illustrates how the IASB’s proposals aim to enhance the transparency of supplier finance arrangements.

Both webcast can be accessed through the press release on the IFRS Foundation website.

EFRAG publishes January 2022 issue of EFRAG Update

03 Feb, 2022

The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has published an ‘EFRAG Update’ summarising public technical discussions held and decisions made during January 2022.

The update sets out that following the EFRAG General Assembly in January 2022, the new Sustainability Reporting Pillar has now been integrated into EFRAG’s organisational structure, such that from now on EFRAG Financial Reporting Board and TEG are indicated as ‘EFRAG FR Board/TEG’ and EFRAG Sustainability Reporting Board and TEG as ‘EFRAG SR Board/TEG’.

The update reports on the EFRAG FR Board webcast meetings on 14 and 26 January, the EFRAG FR Board and EFRAG FR TEG joint webcast meeting on 26 January and the EFRAG FR TEG webcast meetings held on 18-19 January and 24 January. The update also covers EFRAG’s sustainability reporting and related activities as well as webinars and online outreaches.

The update also lists publications issued in January including:

Please click to download the January EFRAG Update from the EFRAG website.

ISSB Chair discusses role and ambitions for ISSB

03 Feb, 2022

An interview of ISSB Chair Emmanuel Faber has been made available where he discussed what appealed to him for the position and where he sees the ISSB going in the future.

Key takeaways from the interview include:

  • Mr Faber places sustainability at the core of business strategy and believes the development of ‘high-quality global standards for disclosing sustainability information will significantly reduce greenwashing ‘noise’ and help companies and investors have meaningful conversations about what really matters to them and the concrete steps taken to implement sustainability commitments’.
  • He commented that way of viewing the linear economic system is coming to an end and focus needs to be put in addressing volatilities associated with climate change in order to manage and mitigate its effect.
  • Previous role as Chair of Danone provided him with experience in leadership and working with stakeholders from all over the world.
  • Mr Faber looks forward to getting to know his new colleagues, working out the details of the prototypes developed by the Technical Readiness Working Group, and engaging with stakeholders.
  • Some challenges he noted were getting the ISSB up and running which includes the appointment of a diverse group of ISSB members. In addition, the creation of a timeline that meets the need to quickly produce these standards while making sure stakeholders have enough time to provide feedback. Success in the first year will be measured by accomplishing the goals set out by the IFRS Foundation Trustees and overcoming the challenges noted.
  • ISSB will learn for the standard-setting process already established by the IASB. The two organisations will collaborate as much as needed during the process.
  • A public consultation on the future work plan is being developed. The work plan will assist the ISSB on which topics it should focus on first.
  • Sustainability disclosures will play an important role to reach the objectives set in the Paris Agreement. He commented that ‘helping build a globally accepted language about these emissions that will be a foundation for effective dialogue and decision making among all the stakeholder groups of the Paris Agreement’.

The full interview is available on the IFRS Foundation’s website.

IPSASB proposes amendments to its Conceptual Framework

03 Feb, 2022

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) has released an exposure draft 'Conceptual Framework Update: Chapter 3, Qualitative Characteristics and Chapter 5, Elements in Financial Statements'.

Exposure Draft (ED) 81 proposals include:

  • Clarifying the role of prudence in public sector financial reporting;
  • Revised definitions of an asset and a liability;
  • Clarifying what constitutes a transfer of resources when determining whether an entity has a liability; and
  • Restructuring guidance on liabilities to improve clarity for users of the Framework.

Comments on the ED are requested by 31 May 2022.

The following additional information is available on the IPSASB website:

Report of the December 2021 Emerging Economies Group meeting

03 Feb, 2022

The 22nd meeting of the IASB's Emerging Economies Group (EEG) was held via remote participation on 2–3 December 2021. The IASB has published a full report of the meeting.

Participants at the meeting, which was chaired by IASB member Tadeu Cendon, discussed subsidiaries without public accountability, the equity method of accounting, the post-implementation review of IFRS 9. In addition, the EEG received an update on sustainability reporting as well as a general update on IASB projects.

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

IASB publishes editorial corrections

02 Feb, 2022

The IASB has published a first set of editorial corrections for 2022.

The corrections relate to IFRS 9 Financial Instruments and IAS 24 Related Party Disclosures. The same corrections also apply to subsequent IFRS publications.

Editorial corrections do not change the meaning or application of pronouncements, but instead correct inadvertent errors. The editorial corrections can be viewed on the editorial corrections page of the IASB's website.

IPSASB publishes final guidance on leases

02 Feb, 2022

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) has released International Public Sector Accounting Standard (IPSAS) 43 'Leases'.

IPSAS 43 Leases contains a model that is aligned with IFRS 16 Leases for lease accounting in the public sector. For lessees, IPSAS 43 introduces a right-of-use model that will replace the risks and rewards incidental to ownership model in IPSAS 13 Leases. For lessors, IPSAS 43 substantially carries forward the risks and rewards incidental to ownership model in IPSAS 13.

IPSAS 43 has an effective date of 1 January 2025 as a three-year period to apply IPSAS 43 provides public sector entities time to prepare for the new requirements and allows for learning to be drawn from the private sector experience in applying IFRS 16.

The publication of IPSAS 43 completes the IPSASB’s first phase of work on leases. The IPSASB will continue its work by considering additional public sector specific issues in a separate project on other lease-type arrangements.

The following additional information is available on the IPSASB website:

EFRAG issues final endorsement advise on narrow-scope amendment to IFRS 17

02 Feb, 2022

The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has issued its final endorsement advice letter relating to the use in the European Union (EU) and European Economic Area of ‘Initial Application of IFRS 17 and IFRS 9 – Comparative Information (Amendment to IFRS 17)’ (the Amendment).

The Amendment addresses the accounting mismatches between insurance contract liabilities and financial assets arising in the comparative information presented on initial application of IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts and IFRS 9 Financial Instruments and improve the usefulness of the comparative information. The Amendment relates only to the presentation of comparative information and becomes effective on initial application of IFRS 17.

EFRAG recommends the endorsement of the Amendment. EFRAG assesses that the Amendment meets the technical endorsement criteria of the IAS Regulation and is conducive to the Euro​​​pean public good.

A press release and the endorsement advice letter to the European Commission are available on the EFRAG website. EFRAG has also updated its endorsement status report.

EFRAG surveys on classification of liabilities with covenants and supplier finance arrangements

02 Feb, 2022

In connection with the IASB Exposure Drafts ‘Non-Current Liabilities with Covenants’ and ‘Supplier Finance Arrangements’, the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has launched two surveys seeking the input of various stakeholder groups.

Following the publication of EFRAG's draft comment letters on the IASB's Exposure Drafts ED/2021/9 Non-Current Liabilities with Covenants and ED/2021/10 Supplier Finance Arrangements, EFRAG has prepared separate questionnaires to collect constituents views as part of its consultation process. 

The feedback on the questionnaires will contribute to form EFRAG's final position on the IASB's proposals on these two projects. Participants are asked to complete the online questionnaires ​by 4 March 2022​.

Further information and links to the surveys can be found on the EFRAG website.

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