Sir Win Bischoff, Chairman of the FRC, provided a high level overview of the focus of the 2015/16 draft plan and budget.  He indicated that the focus of the FRC’s 2015/16 plan will be on corporate governance and investor stewardship, corporate reporting that is fair, balanced and understandable and also confidence in the value of audit.  He also indicated that there will be a continued focus on the FRC’s disciplinary and conduct work.

Stephen Haddrill, Chief Executive Officer, provided a more detailed look at the draft plan and budget for 2015/16 which was published by the FRC in December 2014.  Key highlights include:

Corporate Governance

• the FRC will be setting up a roundtable over the coming weeks to understand best practice with regards to company culture.  Questions that will be addressed include; how does the board determine and promote the culture of the company to ensure that the company lives up to those cultural guidelines that it is setting?; How does the company make sure that it is acting in all its processes consistently with that culture?; and what does the company do when there needs to be a change in culture because it is not performing as investors expect?
• the FRC intends to help companies implement the viability statement introduced as a result of the changes to the UK Corporate Governance Code in September 2014 and hopes to “get a good outcome when the first reports come through after the end of 2015”.
• the FRC will continue their work on supporting better quality engagement between boards and shareholders and ensure that those that have signed up to the Stewardship Code deliver on the commitments they have given.  The FRC want “better disclosure” by asset managers to investors about “what they are actually doing, to promote adherence to the Code”.  The FRC will also work with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) “to influence the European Commission and others on the proposed EU Shareholder Rights Directive”. 

Corporate Reporting

• Updates to the UK Corporate Governance Code such as the requirement for annual reports as a whole to be fair, balanced and understandable and changes to audit reports “have helped investors to see the real value in audit” and “firms have responded positively to the challenge of talking more openly with investors about the way they have gone about audits”.
• Clear and Concise reporting initiatives including the reports prepared by the Financial Reporting Lab which “have been a great success”.  The Financial Reporting Lab will continue work in this area in 2015/16.
• the FRC want to ensure that “people on the preparer side and on the audit side are well prepared” for the change to new UK GAAP. 

Auditor Reporting

• the FRC indicate that it has seen improving audit quality over recent years and highlighted the thematic reviews into the banking sector and on loan-loss provisioning in 2014.  Although these indicated that the quality of audit work in those areas had improved the FRC believes that “there is always more that can be done”.  The FRC highlights that it will be undertaking more audit quality inspections in response to the request from the Competition and Markets Authority and also will be implementing the Audit Directive and Regulation jointly with BIS.          

Attendants were then given the opportunity to put questions to the FRC.  

Click for (all links to FRC website):

• Full transcript
• Slide pack 

Mr Cooper began by stating that IAS 19 focused on more on pension expense presentation rather than measurement and that the guidance caused confusion in practice due to the ‘corridor approach’. To address this issue, he commented that a change was made to the presentation requirements when reporting remeasurements of the net pension asset or liability in other comprehensive income, which essentially removed the ‘corridor approach’. In addition, he noted the positive response from the field on another change related to the removal of the expected return on assets from the income statement.

However, Mr Cooper emphasized that additional changes may be needed due to constant changes in the market. An example of a change currently being researched by the IASB are the challenges with hybrid pension schemes and whether they fall into the defined contribution category or a defined benefit. He mentioned that a more reasonable approach of handling issues with hybrid pension schemes may be to develop a more general model that encompassed all pension schemes.

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

The death of the former Commissioner of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was announced by Columbia Law School where he was Dwight Professor of Law. Harvey Goldschmid was initially appointed Trustee of the IFRS Foundation in January 2010 and was subsequently reappointed for a second term. Since Janaury 2015 he had been Vice-Chairman of the Trustees and Chairman of the Trustees' Due Process Oversight Committee (DPOC). Prior to contributing to the success of the IFRS Foundation as a Trustee, Mr Goldschmid chaired the joint IASB and FASB Financial Crisis Advisory Group (FCAG) together with the present IASB Chairman Hans Hoogervorst.

Please click for:

• Statement by the Trustees of the IFRS Foundation (link to IASB website)
• Statement by the Monitoring Board of the IFRS Foundation (link to IASB website)

The finalised framework was published on 31 October last year after the IPSASB completed its multi-phase project initiated in 2006. The framework aims at enabling the IPSASB to further improve the consistency of its standard-setting by strengthening the linkage between IPSASs and enhance the IPSASB's accountability through improved transparency of the concepts underpinning the development of IPSASs and RPGs.

The presentation (36 mins) is available on the IPSASB website.

GAAP 2015 comprises four volumes, as follows: 

• Volume A – Legal and regulatory framework sets out the legal and regulatory financial reporting requirements extant at 31 July 2014 for UK entities, irrespective of whether they apply IFRSs or UK GAAP. Significant changes to these requirements since the previous edition include the introduction of a new legal framework for financial reporting by micro companies and the publication of a revised Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) for LLPs that is based on the requirements of Financial Reporting Standard (FRS) 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland.  It also covers the requirements of two of the three standards which form part of the ‘new UK GAAP’: FRS 100 Application of Financial Reporting Requirements and FRS 101 Reduced Disclosure Framework.
• Volume B – FRS 102 sets out the requirements of FRS 102, the main standard which replaces ‘old’ UK GAAP. This edition is based on FRS 102 as at 31 July 2014 and incorporates the amendments made in July 2014 in respect of accounting for financial instruments.
• Volume C - IFRSs (comprising two books) sets out comprehensive guidance for entities reporting under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) and covers all IFRSs other than those dealing exclusively with financial instruments.  This volume deals comprehensively with those Standards issued by the IASB up to 31 July 2014 that apply for periods beginning in 2014 and later.  It includes expanded guidance on the application of the most recent Standards and Interpretations from the IASB, including IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers, which will affect the majority of entities applying IFRSs. In addition, GAAP 2015 includes a new chapter on the developing area of Integrated Reporting.
• Volume D – IAS 39 and related Standards covers IAS 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement; IFRS 7 Financial Instruments: Disclosures; IAS 32 Financial Instruments: Presentation; and IFRS 13 Fair Value Measurement.  This volume covers all the requirements of IAS 39 that precede IFRS 9.  It will therefore be of great value to preparers who continue to apply IAS 39 and other interested parties trying to gain a better understanding of the impact of the IFRSs dealing with financial instruments.

More information on the Deloitte manuals and details of how to order can be found at here. 

The IASB issued its Discussion Paper in September 2014. To respond to the Discussion Paper, EFRAG has conducted interviews with investors and analysts to understand users' information needs in respect of an entity's rate-regulated activities.

Of the 19 users that were interviewed, most broadly favoured the inclusion of the financial effects of rate-regulated activities in the primary financial statements as this would enhance the usefulness of the information provided. They believed that recognising the economic effects of rate regulation in the primary statements would:

• result in a measure of performance that reflects what an entity is entitled to earn;
• result in useful financial information to assess prospects of future cash flows; and
• portray the economic reality of entities operating rate-regulated activities.

These users supported separate presentation of the effects of rate regulation on rate-regulated activities as they assess different risks profiles when entities also operate in areas that are not rate-regulated. They also supported note disclosure that includes a qualitative description of the rate-regulated regimes in which the entity operates, information regarding the regulatory asset base and the factors affecting the rate-regulated revenue requirement agreed by the rate regulator.

However, some users interviewed noted that there are drawbacks to the recognition of the effects of rate regulation because most rate-regulated regimes are very complex and continually changing. In the view of theses users, recognition of the effects of rate regulation at the expense of reliability and relevance would increase complexity and therefore reduce the understandability of financial statements.

Please click to access the full feedback statement on the EFRAG website.

On 18 December 2014, the IASB issued ED/2014/6 Disclosure Initiative (Proposed amendments to IAS 7). The main objectives of the proposal are to (1) improved information about an entity's financing activities, excluding equity items and (2) Improved disclosures about the liquidity of an entity.

In its draft comment letter, EFRAG stated that consensus on the amendments has not been reached; however, the draft comment letter does provide different views from constituents on the reconciliation of cash flows from financing activities and disclosures about restrictions on cash and cash equivalents.

In addition, the EFRAG stressed that the IFRS Taxonomy should not be integrated into the IASB’s standard setting process because it believes that it will alter the IASB’s principle-based approach to standard setting.

Comments on the draft comment letter are due by 16 April 2015.

For more information, see the press release and draft comment letter on the EFRAG’s website.

Topics discussed at the meeting included the following:

Updates on technical activities

• Due process issue
• Major projects:
  • Updated on redeliberations related to insurance contracts and the consequences of the effective date of IFRS 9 preceding the finalised standard for insurance.
  • Status of the joint leases project.
  • Conceptual framework due process steps and upcoming exposure draft.
  • Updated on the feedback on the Discussion Paper Accounting for Dynamic Risk Management: a Portfolio Revaluation Approach to Macro Hedging.
  • Development of a preliminary analysis of comments on the Discussion Paper Reporting the Financial Effects of Rate Regulation.
  • Status of the disclosure initiative projects and the expected issuance of a discussion paper in the second quarter of 2015.
  • IASB’s research projects.
  • Progress of the post-implementation review of IFRS 3, IFRS Taxonomy due process trials, and implementation/maintenance projects.

Comprehensive review of the IFRS for SMEs: due process ‘lifecycle’ review

The DPOC analysed the due process steps completed in the IASB’s review of the IFRS for SMEs and confirmed that all steps have been completed.

Reporting on projects

The DPOC agreed with the proposals set by the IASB to improve its public disclosure of the rationale used to reach its tentative decisions and conclusions.

Consultative group and DPOC engagement

The DPOC was provided with a schedule of future consultative group meetings and ask which group meetings should be prioritised for observation.

Correspondence

The DPOC considered suggestions to improve the due process steps when completing a final standard or amendment. However, it agreed to retain the current model provided in the Due Process Handbook.

The full summary of con­clu­sions of the DPOC meeting is avail­able on the IASB's Web site.

Topics discussed at the meeting included the following:

Report of the Trustees’ Ex­ec­u­tive session

• Monitoring board meeting — The Trustees and the Monitoring Board updated each other on (1) progress made in implementing the 2012 IFRS Foundation governance report, (2) strategic planning, (3) governance developments, (4) use of IFRS, and (5) IFRS Foundation financial situation and funding.
• Executive session — The Trustees agreed to four goals in the context of a Strategic Plan 2015-17 and reviewed a ‘mission statement’ draft. In addition, an update was given on the review of the ASAF and the IFRS Foundation’s structure and effectiveness, as well as steps taken following its self-evaluation exercise and jurisdictional funding contributions. Further, SEC Chief Accountant Jim Schnurr provided an update on the consideration of the use of IFRS in the United States.

Report of the Chair of the IASB

Chairman Hans Hoogervorst pro­vided the Trustees with an update on the IASB’s ac­tiv­i­ties concerning the revenue standard, IFRS 9, the technical agenda for 2015, insurance contracts, and the conceptual framework project.

Report of the Chair­man of the Due Process Over­sight Com­mit­tee

The Due Process Over­sight Com­mit­tee re­ported on its recent ac­tiv­i­ties. See our related news item on this report.

Re­gional out­reach ac­tiv­ity

As part of the Trustees’ meeting, the IFRS Foun­da­tion hosted a joint event with the Treuhand-Kammer, the Swiss Institute of Certified Accountants and Tax Experts, to ex­change views on IFRS in Europe.

The full summary of con­clu­sions of the IFRS Foun­da­tion Trustees' meeting is avail­able on the IASB's Web site.

Substantial break-out sessions will focus on implementing major new IFRSs - IFRS 9 Financial Instruments and IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers.

The conference will also feature:

Additional conference details, including registration, are available on the IASB website.