Key themes and topics of the webinar will be:

• Production processes and disclosure modes of intangibles – traditional accounting and non-financial/narrative information;
• The desired "consumption" processes of intangibles information by users; and
• Critical characteristics for corporate production/disclosure and consumption processes, and the authors suggestions for policy makers and standard setters to address them.

Please click for more information and registration on the ICAS website.

Highlights of the podcast include discussions on:

• Goodwill and impairment;
• Primary financial statements;
• Post-implementation review of IFRS 10, IFRS 11 and IFRS 12;
• Rate-regulated activities;
• Second comprehensive review of the IFRS for SMEs;
• Pension benefits that depend on asset returns;
• Equity method;
• Narrow scope amendment to IFRS 17; and
• Ratification of tentative agenda decisions of the Interpretations Committee.

The podcast can be accessed through the press release on the IASB website.

Please click to view the detailed notes taken by Deloitte observers for the IASB meeting.

The Board will discuss the following:

• Rate-regulated activities
• Dynamic risk management
• Second comprehensive review of the IFRS for SMEs Standard
• Goodwill and impairment
• Primary financial statements
• Board work plan — Timing of PIRs
• Post-implementation review of IRS 10–12
• Third agenda consultation

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 project will provide UK-specific information to the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) during its redeliberations on its Discussion Paper 2020/1 Business Combinations: Disclosures, Goodwill and Impairment.

The project will explore:

• how a hybrid model for subsequent measurement of goodwill, i.e. an annual amortisation charge supported by impairment testing, can provide information that is useful for users;
• how transitioning to such a hybrid model might affect the financial position of a group or company;
• potential approaches to estimating the useful life of goodwill for amortisation purposes; and
• transitional arrangements and cost implications.

UKEB also invites UK IFRS reporters and their lenders to complete a short survey to contribute views on the practical implications of a potential transition to a hybrid model, including the impact on debt covenants and legal and regulatory requirements. The survey is open until 26 November 2021. 

Click here for more information on the UKEB website and here to access the survey.

The ED seeks to develop an accounting standard that would permit eligible subsidiaries to apply reduced disclosure requirements as long as the subsidiary applies the recognition, measurement and presentation requirements in IFRS Standards.

The UKEB secretariat seeks input and feedback from UK stakeholders as it develops its response to the IASB’s Exposure Draft ED/20212/7 Subsidiaries Without Public Accountability: Disclosures. For this purpose, UKEB invites stakeholders to attend two upcoming roundtables on 24 November and 26 November 2021.

UKEB secretariat has published a video exploring the IASB Exposure Draft ED/2021/7 Subsidiaries without Public Accountability: Disclosures (ED).The video provides an overview of the proposals in the ED, giving an insight into the IASB thinking behind these proposals and highlighting the UKEB timeline and forthcoming UKEB outreach events. A link to the video and more information on the UKEB work on this project can be found on the UKEB website.

UKEB secretariat also published its survey on this ED. Stakeholder responses to the UKEB survey will be used as evidence for the UKEB’s comment letter to the IASB. It takes around 20 minutes to complete. We would particularly welcome input from preparers of subsidiary financial statements. The survey is open until COB 31 January 2022. The survey can be accessed here.

Further details and information on how to register for the event are available on the FRC website.

The Chair of the IOSCO Sustainable Finance Task Force, Erik Thedéen, noted that IOSCO identified the IFRS Foundation as the vehicle to develop a global baseline for investor-oriented sustainability standards given its well-tested governance structure, its best-in-class reputation in setting international reporting standards and its proven record of transparent and inclusive due process. He stressed:

The ISSB global standards are the right tool to respond to the existing ‘alphabet soup’ of voluntary sustainability disclosures. They can drive much-needed international consistency and comparability in sustainability-related information, laying the groundwork towards high quality mandatory reporting.

Ashley Alder, Chair of the IOSCO Board, gave the keynote speech at the summit. He stressed that the new board under the IFRS Foundation umbrella offers the most credible mechanism for creating a baseline of disclosure standards, enabling a confusing picture to be superseded by a properly aligned global approach. He commented:

Crucially, the ISSB will develop a comprehensive global baseline of corporate climate disclosure standards which meet the information needs of investors. They will enable investors to align their investment strategies with the global transition to net zero and will also mitigate the ever-present risk of greenwashing. [...] The baseline disclosure standard can also cut a clear pathway to the adoption of a mandatory standard if jurisdictions choose to take that route. This is important because, in order to hold corporates properly accountable, the standard should be sufficiently enforceable. It is also crucial that it is an open standard which allows jurisdictions to build on the baseline to accommodate their own sustainability needs and circumstances.

Both speakers also stressed that IOSCO plans to thoroughly assess the ISSB proposals to ensure they meet the needs of investors before deciding whether IOSCO can endorse them. If IOSCO's expectations are met, the IOSCO Board would then endorse the new standards for over 130 market regulators.

Please click to access the two speeches on the IOSCO website:

• Keynote speech by Ashley Alder
• Remarks by Erik Thedéen

Earlier, IOSCO also released a statement welcoming the creation of the ISSB.

Earlier in 2021 BEIS consulted on proposals to introduce mandatory climate-related financial disclosures for public interest companies, AIM companies, large private companies and LLPs. A draft statutory instrument has now been laid, entitled The Companies (Strategic Report) (Climate-related Financial Disclosure) Regulations 2021. This legislation will amend the Companies Act 2006 and introduce new disclosure requirements which are intended to align to the four pillars of the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). 

According to BEIS' public release, the UK will become the first G20 country to enshrine in law mandatory TCFD-aligned requirements for Britain’s largest companies and financial institutions. The legislation will take effect for periods commencing on or after 6 April 2022, subject to Parliamentary approval.

Scope

The following entities will be within the scope of the new disclosure requirements:

• All UK companies that are already required to produce a non-financial information statement, being UK companies that have more than 500 employees and have either transferable securities admitted to trading on a UK regulated market, or are banking companies or insurance companies (Relevant Public Interest Entities (PIEs));
• UK registered companies with securities admitted to AIM with more than 500 employees;
• UK registered companies which are not included in the categories above, which have more than 500 employees and a turnover of more than £500m.
• LLPs which have more than 500 employees and a turnover of more than £500m.

Location of disclosures

Companies will be required to report climate-related financial information in the non-financial information (NFI) statement, which is also renamed by the legislation to become the non-financial and sustainability information statement (NFSI). 

LLPs will be required to report climate-related financial information in either the non-financial information statement which forms part of their Strategic Report or, if no Strategic Report is prepared, the Energy and Carbon Report which forms part of their Annual Report.

Disclosure requirements

In-scope entities will be required to disclose the following climate-related financial information in line with the four overarching pillars of the TCFD recommendations:

• a description of the company’s governance arrangements in relation to assessing and managing climate-related risks and opportunities;
• a description of the principal climate-related risks and opportunities arising in connection with the company’s operations, and the time periods by reference to which those risks and opportunities are assessed;
• a description of the actual and potential impacts of the principal climate-related risks and opportunities on the company’s business model and strategy;
• an analysis of the resilience of the company’s business model and strategy, taking into consideration different climate-related scenarios;
• a description of how the company identifies, assesses, and manages climate-related risks and opportunities;
• a description of how processes for identifying, assessing, and managing climate-related risks are integrated into the company’s overall risk management process;
• a description of the targets used by the company to manage climate-related risks and to realise climate-related opportunities and of performance against those targets; and
• a description of the key performance indicators used to assess progress against targets used to manage climate-related risks and realise climate-related opportunities and of the calculations on which those key performance indicators are based.

Non-binding Q&As will be produced to support companies and LLPs in their application of these requirements. Regarding scenario analysis, BEIS has stated in its response that qualitative analysis will be sufficient and will ensure that this is clear in the non-binding Q&A. 

A press release, the feedback statement and the draft legislation are available on the UK Government’s website.

The new resource provides direct access to the standards developed by the International Audit and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB), the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA), and the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB).

Please click for more information and access to the platform on the IFAC website.

EFRAG published its Final Comment Letter in September 2021.

The feedback statement summarises the main comments received by EFRAG on its draft comment letter and explains how the comments were considered by EFRAG during its technical discussions leading to the publication of EFRAG's final comment letter.

A press release and the feedback statement is available on the EFRAG website.

The DP follows the publication of the Government’s Roadmap to Sustainable Investing in October 2021 which set out the government's ambitions on climate change and green finance and sets out how it will realise those ambitions.  Two initiatives, in particular, will require action from the FCA to implement them.  These are with respect to sustainability disclosure requirements (SDR's) (where companies, including listed issuers, assets managers and asset owners, will be required to report on their sustainability risks, opportunities and impacts and provide disclosures relating to the forthcoming UK Green Taxonomy) and sustainable investment labels (where certain investment products will be required to display a label reflecting their sustainability characteristics).  

The DP seeks initial views on the SDR disclosure requirements for asset managers and certain FCA-regulated asset owners, as well as the sustainable investment labelling system.  The FCA aims to consult in Q2 2022 on proposed new rules and will use the responses to the DP to develop its proposals.  The DP has a specific focus on:

• sustainable investment labels;
• consumer-facing disclosures for investment products; and
• client- and consumer-facing entity- and product-level disclosures by asset managers and FCA-regulated asset owners.

The DP focuses on the elements of SDR relevant to firms involved in investment management and decision-making processes.  It will consider how best to introduce specific sustainability-related requirements for financial advisors in due course.

Responses to the DP are requested by 7 January 2022. 

The Discussion Paper is available on the FCA website.