In the final comment letter, the UKEB supports the proposals in the IASB's Exposure Draft as they provide guidance on an area not covered by the existing standard.  The UKEB therefore believes that the proposals should reduce diversity in practice, leading to consistency and comparability of financial statements.  In its final comment letter the UKEB also proposes some minor changes to the wording of the amendments. 

The final comment letter and the feedback statement is available on the UKEB website.

In its final comment letter the UK Endorsement Board supports the proposals in the discussion paper and indicate that the proposals will provide users of financial statements with information on BCUCC which it calls a 'significant step forward from the minimal information required today'.

In particular, the UK Endorsement Board expect the proposals in the Discussion Paper will lead to improvements over current financial reporting as follows:

• Measurement and disclosure requirements in the DP will reduce diversity in accounting practice, improve transparency and lead to greater comparability between financial statements.
• The proportionate approach, whereby the book value method is required in situations where non-controlling shareholders are not affected, will reduce complexity and cost for preparers.

The final comment letter recommends that:

• entities that qualify for the book value method should have an option to use the acquisition method; and
• when considering the valuations to use for the book value method, the values recorded by the parent or “seller” company should also be permitted if they provide more relevant information.

Additionally, whilst supporting in principle the non-controlling shareholder exemption from using acquisition accounting, the UKEB indicates that there may be practical issues with its application.

The final comment letter and the feedback statement are available on the UKEB website.

This project will consider how company processes are changing and how that might translate into useful external disclosures.

Further information including the press release is available on the FRC website.

The report provides several practical examples of corporate reporting that better meet investors’ needs. The examples in the report cover four key areas identified about which investors seek information relating to risks, uncertainties and opportunities:

• Governance and process.  Before understanding the nature of the risks, uncertainties and opportunities, investors want to understand how the board and management identifies, monitors and manages these areas and responds in an agile way.
• Nature.  Investors want to build their knowledge of the risks, uncertainties and opportunities through disclosure addressing:
  • Context: what is the company’s market position and how does it view macro and micro trends and themes?
  • Importance: how does it fit within the company’s plans, how big is it, what is the likelihood and what priority attaches to it?
  • Form: how does the company identify and classify the risks, how do the risks align or connect with the opportunities and the wider company narrative and reporting?   
• Approach.  Investors want to understand how management are responding to the risks, uncertainties and opportunities. This requires information about:
  • Linkage: to the wider strategy, business models and metrics that allow the monitoring of risks and opportunities.
  • Response: what is management tangibly doing to mitigate the risk (where relevant) and take forward the opportunity, what have they already done, what will they do in the short, medium and long term and how does this affect wider viability and resilience? 
• Scenarios and stress-testing.  Investors want to understand more fully what is on the company’s horizon and how this is integrated into the risk and opportunity process. They seek to understand how uncertainty impacts the risks and opportunities and how scenarios provide insight into the range of possible futures.  Investors want to know that such exercises are conducted by the company and whether and how they influence its strategic decisions and, ultimately, its business model.

Alongside the report, the Lab has released a one-page summary of the report and a podcast from the Lab's project manager.  Following publication of the report, the Lab is inviting companies, investors and interested parties to participate in a new project that seeks to understand the specific process and disclosure areas emerging around cyber, digital and data risk.

Please click to access the press release, the report on risks, uncertainties and scenarios, the one-page summary and the podcast on the FRC website.

The update covers the activities of the European Reporting Lab as well as webinars and online outreaches. The update also lists EFRAG publications issued in August 2021 including:

• EFRAG discussion paper on intangibles
• EFRAG calls for experts to review the draft EU sustainability reporting standards
• EFRAG draft comment letter on the IASB's proposed narrow-scope amendment to IFRS 17

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

The Committee will discuss the following:

• IFRS 16 — Non-refundable value added tax on lease payments
• IAS 32 — Accounting for warrants that are classified as financial liabilities on initial recognition
• IFRS 16 — Lease liability in sale and leaseback
• IAS 7 — Demand deposits with restrictions on use
• IFRS 9 — Cash received via electronic transfer as settlement for a financial asset

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 research areas of interest are:

• Research on practical IPSAS implementation challenges 
  • Differential reporting 
  • Discount rates
• Research on adoption and implementation of specific IPSAS
  • IPSAS 31 Intangible Assets
  • IPSAS 33 First-Time Adoption of Accrual Basis IPSAS
• Broad future focused research
  • Climate change and public sector financial reporting related to sustainability 
  • Financial reporting impacts of digitization in the public sector

Please click for more information and the call for papers on the IPSASB website.

In the context of their periodic strategy review, the IFRS Foundation Trustees published a consultation paper in September 2020 to determine:

• whether there is a need for global sustainability standards;
• whether the IFRS Foundation should play a role in developing such standards; and
• what the scope of that role could be.

Feedback to the consultation confirmed an urgent need for global sustainability reporting standards and support for the Foundation to play a role in their development. Since the start of 2021, the Trustees have, therefore, worked towards the potential creation of a new standard-setting board within the existing governance structure of the IFRS Foundation.

Please click for more information on our new dedicated resource page.

Regarding the discussion paper Business Combinations under Common Control, we generally agree with the Board’s preliminary views as expressed in the discussion paper. In particular, we agree that different methods should be applied depending on the characteristics of the receiving entity. We agree that when the receiving entity does not have non-controlling shareholders, use of a book-value method is justified by cost-benefit considerations. However, we do not agree that the receiving entity should be required to use the transferred entity’s book values. We also agree that the acquisition method is likely to provide more relevant information to investors that must rely on general purpose financial statements of the receiving entity to obtain the information they require. Accordingly, we believe that the application of the acquisition method should be required more broadly than what is proposed in the discussion paper. Please click to download our full comment letter here.

Regarding the exposure draft Lack of Exchangeability (Proposed amendments to IAS 21), we acknowledge that the use of an official exchange rate may not produce meaningful results when this rate is not available to the entity. However, we do not believe that attempting to estimate the exchange rate that would have been available if the currency had been exchangeable would produce meaningful results either. Accordingly, we believe that the Board should seek a solution that gives precedence to comparability. Please click to download our full comment letter here.

The Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) taxonomy has been included in all of the taxonomies except for the Irish extension. In addition, the taxonomy now supports a Welsh label linkbase. Taskforce on Climtate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) disclosures in the SECR have been augmented to allow for more detailed tagging. HMRC’s Detailed Profit & Loss (DPL) taxonomy extension is now part of the Directors’ Report.

The feedback period ends on 16 September 2021. The press release (including a link to the draft FRC Taxonomies 2022 suite) is available on the FRC website.