The UKEB highlights the importance of this issue to the insurance industry and indicates that finalising an agenda decision that clarifies the application of IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts would enable insurers and auditors to move towards the initial application of IFRS 17 with greater certainty over this issue and would also remove potential diversity in practice.  In that respect the UKEB encourages the IFRS Interpretations Committee to finalise the decision as soon as possible.

The UKEB acknowledges the concerns expressed by various stakeholders regarding the tentative agenda decision and indicates that they should be considered by the International Accounting Standard Board (IASB) on a holistic basis once experience has been gained of applying the standard in practice.  These areas include:

• Uncertainty over the concept of insurance service and what that might comprise, how its transfer to policyholders might be measured and whether that should necessarily be linked to, or limited by policyholders’ ability to make valid claims in the period.
• Interaction of the CSM with the risk adjustment for non-financial risk.
• Whether the criteria for recognition of an investment-return service operate as intended, and whether further guidance on splitting the CSM between different insurance contract services would be useful.

The UKEB believes that there is a risk of further diversity in practice if these matters are not addressed and that they should be addressed as part of the IFRS 17 post-implementation review

The final comment letter is available on the UKEB website.

In March 2022, the ISSB issued two EDs, IFRS S1 (ED/2022/S1) and IFRS S2 (ED/2022/S2).  The UKEB welcomes the exposure drafts and supports the need for a general requirements framework for sustainability-related information.  It also 'strongly supports' the alignment of IFRS S2 exposure draft with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) Recommendations.

It acknowledges many areas of alignment with the International Accounting Standard Board’s (IASB's) Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting, IAS 1 Presentation of Financial Statements and IAS 8 Accounting Policies, Changes in Accounting Estimates and Errors, and believes this will improve connectivity with the financial reports and help stakeholders to better understand the information presented.

The letter also makes several recommendations in relation to the proposed approach.

Comments on the draft comment letter are requested by 27 June 2022.

The draft comment letter and the invitation to comment are available on the UKEB website.

Ms Mezon-Hutter has served as a member, Vice-Chair and ultimately Chair of the Canadian Accounting Standards Board (AcSB). She has also served on the IASB’s Accounting Standards Advisory Forum. Before joining the AcSB, Mezon-Hutter served as the Chief Accountant at Royal Bank of Canada.

Mr Uhl has served as a Partner and National Director for Accounting Standards at Deloitte in the United States. He was also a member of the IFRS Interpretations Committee and the US Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (FASB) Emerging Issues Task Force. In addition, he has served as a Professional Accounting Fellow at the Office of the Chief Accountant at the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Nick Anderson, Jianqiao Lu and Ann Tarca have been reappointed to serve a second, three-year term. Mr Anderson's and Mr Lu’s second terms start 1 September 2022, whereas Ms Tarca’s second term starts on 1 July 2022.

The press release on the IFRS Foundation's website also notes that Mary Tokar’s second term has been extended from 30 June to 31 August 2022. 

The participants discussed:

• Update on Trustees' activities and IASB activities — Main discussion points were
  • the multi-location model of the ISSB,
  • the ISSB’s due process approach,
  • asserting compliance with IFRS accounting standards and IFRS sustainability-related disclosure standards,
  • engagement being undertaken with governments, regulators, and jurisdictions on the EDs, and to achieve a global baseline,
  • connectivity between the IASB and the ISSB and the potential for IASB-ISSB joint stakeholder engagement,and
  • the IASB’s future work plan, new projects to be added to the work plan, and selected projects currently on the IASB's work plan.
• Update on the ISSB’s exposure drafts — Participants received an in-depth introduction to the two EDs and had the opportunity to ask questions.
• Feedback from previous Advisory Council meetings — Participants were updated on how strategic advice provided by members at previous meetings has been considered and applied to the work of the IASB, the ISSB and the IFRS Foundation.
• Introduction of the Chair of the ISSB and an update on the ISSB’s activities — Participants had the opportunity to ask questions regarding ISSB Board membership, challenges expected regarding ISSB standard-setting, ISSB standards and compliance with the SEC disclosure requirements, the culture of merged organisations, relations between standard setters, and emerging markets.
• Organisational culture — Participants discussed:
  • Advice on bringing organisational cultures together when working in a global multilocation setting with multiple organisational consolidations occurring, and in a context of hybrid working during a continuing pandemic.
  • How can the IFRS Foundation best build on strengths in the values and cultures of the legacy organisations and achieve a unified culture?

The full meeting summary (16 pages) is available on the IFRS Foundation website.

To gather UK stakeholders’ views on the ISSB’s Exposure Drafts, the FRC has developed a survey.  The data collected by the FRC will inform its response to the ISSB Exposure Drafts.  The deadline to provide comments is 29 May 2022. 

The survey is available on the FRC website.

The IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Taxonomy would be the counterpart to the IFRS Accounting Taxonomy developed to enable digital consumption of information provided by companies applying IFRS Accounting Standards issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB).

Responses to the staff request for feedback are due by 30 September 2022 and can be provided by filling in an online form or by sending a comment letter. Please click for more information on the IFRS Foundation website.

The statement notes that IASB and ISSB are convinced that the integrated reporting framework drives high-quality corporate reporting and connectivity between financial statements and sustainability-related financial disclosures. They therefore strongly encourage continued use of the framework and the principles underpinning it.

The joint statement explains that the framework and the principles will become part of the materials of the IFRS Foundation and the IASB and the ISSB will assume responsibility for their future use and development. The Chairs and Vice-Chair(s) of the IASB and the ISSB undertake that the boards will work together to agree on how to build on and integrate the framework into their standard-setting projects and requirements. The IASB and ISSB will utilise principles and concepts from the framework in their standard-setting work. The Chairs of the IASB and ISSB also commit to a long-term role for a corporate reporting framework, incorporating principles and concepts from the current framework. Such a framework would enable connected, holistic and cohesive corporate reporting.

Please click to access the full statement on the IFRS Foundation website.

The working group held its first meeting on 16 May 2022 and a public summary of the meeting is now available on the IFRS Foundation website.

During the meeting participants provided an update of the ongoing developments in their jurisdiction in relation to sustainability-related reporting, provided an update on current plans and processes to obtain feedback from stakeholders on consultations, and considered areas where further work can be undertaken to establish a global baseline for sustainability-related reporting.

More information about the issues is set out below:

Click to access all our comment letters to the IASB, IFRS Foundation, and IFRS Interpretations Committee.

The revised ISAs (UK) are: 200, 210, 220, 230, 240, 250A, 260, 265, 300, 320, 330, 402, 450, 500, 501, 505, 520, 530, 540, 550, 570, 580, 600, 610, 620, 700, 701, 720.

ISQC (UK) 1 has also been updated.

A link to the updated ISAs is available on the FRC website here.