News

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New appointment to the FRC

05 Mar, 2014

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has appointed David Styles as Director of Corporate Governance.

David will join the FRC on 6 May 2014 and joins from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills where he has worked in the Corporate Law and Governance Directorate and led implementation of departmental policy on directors' remuneration, shareholders' rights and corporate governance.

The press release can be found on the FRC website, here.

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IFRS XBRL taxonomy for 2014 is available

05 Mar, 2014

The IFRS Foundation has published the IFRS Taxonomy 2014. The IFRS Taxonomy is a translation of IFRSs (International Financial Reporting Standards) into XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language).

The 2014 taxonomy is consistent with IFRSs as issued by the IASB at 1 January 2014 and IFRS for Small and Medium-sized Entities as issued on 9 July 2009. The IFRS Taxonomy 2014 consolidates the two IFRS Taxonomy Proposed Interim Releases issued September 2013 and January 2014.

Please note that the IFRS Taxonomy 2014 follows a different architecture to the IFRS Taxonomy 2013, with separated modules for full Standards, IFRS for SMEs and IFRS Practice Statement Management Commentary.

Click here to access the IFRS Taxonomy files and accompanying materials on the IFRS Foundation's website.

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Public Conference of the EFRAG technical group (EFRAG TEG)

04 Mar, 2014

On March 11, 2014, the Technical Expert Group (TEG) of the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group, (EFRAG) will hold a public conference call.

Interested listeners have the ability to dial into the conference call.  Please click link for details of the registration on the EFRAG website. 

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EFRAG, EFFAS/ABAF, and IASB announce macro hedging outreach event

04 Mar, 2014

The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG), the European Federation of Financial Analysts Societies (EFFAS) and the Association Belge des Analystes Financiers (ABAF), and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) have announced the second in their series of joint outreach events will be held on 7 July 2014 to discuss how macro hedging can improve analysis of banks and insurers.

This second outreach event will (1) provide an explanation of macro hedging from banking and insurance industry representatives, (2) analyse real examples, (3) discuss the IASB’s proposals, and (4) provide the EFRAG’s current position. Registration for this event is requested by 30 June 2014.

The first outreach event will be held on 1 April 2014 to discuss the post-implementation review of IFRS 3.

For more information, see the press release on the EFRAG website.

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FRC and ICAEW outreach event for IFRS 3 Business Combinations

03 Mar, 2014

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) will be hosting a joint IFRS 3 ‘Business Combinations’ Request for Information (RFI) outreach event for preparers and users on 25 March 2014.

The objective of the event is to obtain evidence about whether IFRS 3 (and related standards) was implemented on a consistent basis and to understand any unintended consequences arising from its introduction and implementation in practice.  The event will enable participants to assist with evidence in the submission of the FRC and ICAEW responses to the International Accounting Standard Board’s (IASB’s) RFI on the Post-implementation of IFRS 3 ‘Business Combinations’. 

As part of their call for evidence the FRC also invites interested parties to complete a questionnaire, jointly created with the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) and the standard-setters of France, Germany and Italy

Click for:

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We comment on IVSC credit and debit valuation ED

03 Mar, 2014

We have published our comment letter on the International Valuation Standards Council’s (IVSC) Exposure Draft (ED) ‘Credit and Debit Valuation Adjustments’.

We are concerned that the objective of the fair value measurement of credit risk is not clear. We believe that any guidance issued should state the valuation objective and that this objective should be valuation for financial reporting purposes, whilst acknowledging that valuation for other purposes exist and may result in the application of different valuation approaches. We also are concerned who the primary beneficiary would be. Large financial institutions will have limited use for the guidance in the ED, while, non-financial institutions appear not to be the target of the ED.

Click for the full comment letter.

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EFRAG issues feedback statement on IASB's revised Exposure Draft ED/2013/10 Equity method in separate financial statements

03 Mar, 2014

The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has published a feedback statement summarising the main comments received from constituents invited to respond to their draft comment letter in relation to the International Accounting Standards Board’s (IASB’s) Exposure Draft ED/2013/10 ‘Equity method in separate financial statements’.

ED/2013/10 proposes to change IAS 27 Separate Financial Statements to:

  • Permit the equity method as one of the options to account for an entity's investments in subsidiaries, joint ventures and associates in the entity's separate financial statements.
  • Require applying the change retrospectively when an entity elects to change to the equity method.

EFRAG published their draft comment letter in January 2014 and the final comment letter was published in February 2014.  

The feedback statement (link to EFRAG website) provides an analysis of the EFRAG tentative position expressed in the draft comment letter, describes the comments received from constituents and then highlight how these comments were considered by the EFRAG Technical Group (EFRAG TEG) in reaching their final position on the IASB ED set out in their final comment letter to the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). 

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Agenda for March 2014 Global Preparers Forum meeting

03 Mar, 2014

Representatives from the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) will meet with the Global Preparers Forum (GPF) in London on Tuesday, 11 March 2014. The agenda for the meeting has been released, and includes an overview of the IASB and IFRS Interpretations Committee work plans, and discussion on specific topics including macro hedging, financial instruments impairment, leases, hyperinflation, the post-implementation review of IFRS 3, and the Conceptual Framework.

The full agenda for the meeting is summarised below:

Tuesday, 11 March 2014 (09:00-17:45)

  • IASB work plan update - including updates on revenue recognition, insurance contracts, limited amendments to IFRS 9 and disclosure framework
  • Updates on particular projects
    • Financial instruments - Macro hedge accounting - discussion paper
    • Financial instruments - Impairment - potential differences with US GAAP
  • Leases - focus on simplifying lessee accounting
  • IFRS Interpretations Committee update
  • Post-implementation review - IFRS 3 Business Combinations
  • Accounting in high inflationary or hyperinflationary economies - issues raised in applying IAS 29 Financial Reporting in Hyperinflationary Economies
  • Conceptual Framework
    • Summary of comment letters
    • Role and purpose
    • Case study on rate-regulated activities

Agenda papers from this meeting are available on the IASB's website.

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EFRAG suggests the IASB addresses interests in joint operations structured through separate vehicles

01 Mar, 2014

In a letter to the IASB, the EFRAG requests that the IASB review the issues surrounding the accounting for interests in joint operations structured through a separate vehicle in separate financial statements.

Specifically, the guidance in IFRS 11 Joint Arrangements, which requires a joint operator to follow in its separate financial statements in the same manner as in the consolidated financial statements when accounting for interest in a joint operation structured through a separate vehicle, provides different options than the guidance in IAS 27 Separate Financial Statements, which requires investments in subsidiaries, associates or joint ventures to be accounted for at cost or fair value in the separate financial statements of the investor. These differences have created issues for companies that present separate financial statements in accordance with IFRSs.

In the letter submitted to the IASB, EFRAG notes that a practical solution to address the issue is for the IASB to amend IAS 27 to allow joint operations, structured through a separate vehicle, to be accounted for in the same way as joint ventures (i.e. at cost or fair value) in the separate financial statements of the joint operator.

For more information, see the press release and the letter to the IASB on the EFRAG website.

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Company revises fair value methodology for biological assets following FRRP challenge

28 Feb, 2014

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has issued a press release of the findings of the Financial Reporting Review Panel (FRRP) stemming from the review of the annual report and accounts of Anglo-Eastern Plantations Plc ("the company").

The principal issue arising from the review, which has led to a prior period restatement, related to the company’s methodology for estimating the fair value of biological assets (palm oil trees) in the balance sheet.

In the specific case under review, the FRRP concluded that:

  • The historical apportionment method applied by the company was not an acceptable approach to calculating a fair value for biological assets, as required by IAS 41 Agriculture.
  • The company’s use of historical rather than current data as inputs to its valuation model resulted in an overstatement of the fair value of the biological assets.

Pease click here for the full press release on the FRC’s website

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