The FRC has issued the following documents (all links to the FRC website):

• Overview of the financial reporting framework;
• FRS 100 Application of Financial Reporting Requirements;
• FRS 101 Reduced Disclosure Framework;
• FRS 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland;
• FRS 103 Insurance Contracts;
• Implementation Guidance to accompany FRS 103 Insurance Contracts;
• FRS 104 Interim Reporting; and
• FRS 105 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable to the Micro-entities Regime.

The revised edition of the 'Overview of the financial reporting framework’ reflects developments in accounting standards, legislation and regulation. The Foreword to Accounting Standards is unchanged.

The FRC reminds stakeholders that some previously issued amendments are not mandatory until future reporting periods and that earlier editions, and separate details of each amendment, continue to be available on the FRC’s website. 

In addition to the September 2024 editions of UK and Ireland Accounting Standards, the FRC will also be publishing updated staff factsheets to support preparers implementing the ‘Periodic Review 2024 amendments’.

Click here for:

• Press release (link to FRC website)
• Our publication: Need to know - Amendments to FRS 102- Periodic Review 2024

The two organisations have agreed to collaborate on building market uptake of each other’s methodologies, to promote each other’s research, to offer joint stakeholder engagement, to align their fundraising activities, and to collaborate on capacity building initiatives.

More information is available in a press release on the GRI website.

The ISSB will discuss the following:

• An investor perspective on the ISSB’s work plan
• Enhancing the SASB Standards
• Biodiversity, ecosystems and ecosystem services and human capital

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 Board will discuss the following:

• Cash flows and related matters
• Addendum to the Exposure Draft Third edition of the IFRS for SMEs Accounting Standard
• Amortised Cost Measured
• Dynamic Risk Management
• Power Purchase Agreements
• 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.

Members will discuss the initial membership of the IFRS Sustainability Reference Group (SRG). Please see the agenda and meeting paper on the IFRS Foundation website.

A summary of the agenda is set out below:

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

The thematic review summarises the key findings from the Corporate Reporting Review (CRR) team’s review of disclosures in companies’ first annual reports and accounts following their adoption of IFRS 17. It is a follow-up to the FRC’s report published in November 2023 which considered the disclosures made in 2023 interim accounts relating to the implementation of IFRS 17.

The FRC noted that the overall quality of disclosure of insurance contracts under IFRS 17, including transition-specific disclosures, in the FRC’s sample was good.

The thematic review showed that while some further areas for improvement were identified, many of these related to areas commonly raised with companies, such as judgements and estimates, and alternative performance measures.

Some of the other key observations from the thematic review are:

• The FRC was pleased that most companies avoided disclosing insignificant information. It expects companies to consider the appropriate level of disaggregation for disclosures of insurance contracts and provide appropriately disaggregated qualitative and quantitative information to allow users to understand the financial effects of material portfolios of insurance (and reinsurance) contracts.
• The FRC identified a number of areas, such as disclosures relating to insurance finance income or expense, and risks relating to insurance contracts, where disclosures were not always provided in a way that met the requirements of the standard. The FRC reminds companies that disclosures of significant judgements and estimates, and accounting policies, are more useful when they are entity specific.
• While the FRC noted that most of the insurance companies in its sample clearly explained the impact of IFRS 17 on their Alternative Performance Measures (APMs), it also identified a number of areas for improvement consistent with the findings from its previous thematic reviews of APMs, including commonly used measures such as premium metrics, and claims and expense ratios.

As IFRS 17 is a new accounting standard, with a significant impact on the insurance sector, the FRC expects that practice will continue to develop and improve over time.

The press release and the full publication are available on the FRC website. 

The FRC’s report on offsetting reflects the Corporate Reporting Review (CRR) team’s experience in relation to offsetting in annual reports and accounts over recent years and focuses on the requirements for offsetting in areas where the CRR found more frequent application issues.

The FRC notes that although the requirements for offsetting are reasonably well established, it regularly identifies material errors in this area, even in fairly straightforward scenarios.

In the thematic, the FRC reminds companies that:

• Cash flows should be presented gross, unless otherwise required or permitted. The FRC also clarifies that the accounting requirements for including overdrafts within cash and cash equivalents in the cash flow statement differ significantly from those relating to the offset of overdrafts and cash and cash equivalents in the statement of financial position.
• Bank overdrafts and positive bank balances that form part of a cash pooling arrangement are offset in the statement of financial position only when there is an intention to exercise a legally enforceable right to set off period-end bank balances. The FRC emphasises that the existence of this right, in itself, is insufficient for offsetting conditions in IAS 32 Financial Instruments: Presentation to be met and that the second part of the offset criteria relates to an intention to exercise this right. 
• High quality disclosures are important where financial instruments have been offset or are subject to a master netting arrangement or similar agreement. Companies should disclose material accounting policy information relating to offsetting as well as any significant judgements made by management in applying these policies.
• A reimbursement asset is required to be separately presented from the associated provision. Further, any reimbursement rights that satisfy the contingent asset requirements of IAS 37 Provisions, Contingent Liabilities and Contingent Assets should be appropriately disclosed.

The thematic review also provides observations related to offsetting in other areas including, but not limited to, deferred taxes, revenue from contracts with customers, refund liabilities and right of return assets, employee benefits and non-current assets held for sale and discontinued operations.

The report also clarifies that while IAS 34 Interim Financial Reporting does not contain explicit requirements for disclosures on offsetting, it does require an entity to include in its interim report an explanation of events and transactions that are significant to an understanding of the changes in financial position and performance since the end of the last annual reporting period which may include disclosures on offsetting when it was not applied previously.

The press release and the full publication are available on the FRC website. 

Guarantees issued on obligations of other entities: The IFRS IC received a submission about how an entity, in its separate financial statements, accounts for guarantees that it issues on obligations of its joint venture in certain fact patterns. As the fact patterns submitted are highly specific and subtle differences in the specific facts and circumstances could change the conclusion, the staff considers that it would be inappropriate for the IFRS IC to conclude on the matter. Instead, the staff recommends that the IFRS IC publish a tentative agenda decision identifying the IFRS Accounting Standards an entity considers in accounting for guarantees that it issues.

IFRS 15 — recognition of revenues from tuition fees: The IFRS IC received a submission about the period over which an entity that provides educational services recognises revenue from tuition fees when applying IFRS 15. The staff concluded that there is no evidence of diversity in how those educational institutions recognise revenue from tuition fees and recommends that the IFRS IC publish a tentative agenda decision explaining the reasons for not adding this matter to its agenda.

IFRS IC input into IASB projects:

• Pollutant pricing mechanisms: The purpose of the session is to obtain IFRS IC members’ input on the prevalence and significance of pollutant pricing mechanisms, and whether IFRS IC members have observed deficiencies in the accounting for these mechanisms. This information will contribute to the IASB’s horizon scanning activities and helping the IASB make an informed decision on whether to prioritise a project on the topic.
• Post-implementation review (PIR) of IFRS 16: The purpose of this session is to seek IFRS IC members’ views on the implementation and ongoing application of IFRS 16 and to identify matters to include in the forthcoming request for information (RFI) for public consultation.

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

A summary of the agenda is set out below:

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