The IASB preliminarily discussed a paper that will be discussed during its joint meeting with the FASB on Friday. The IASB made several tentative decisions/statements:

• Distinctions between components of comprehensive income such as revenues and gains provide useful information to investors and creditors.
• The present distinction between revenues and gains is ambiguous and difficult to operationalise.
• Increases in assets as a result of production can give rise to a component of comprehensive income.
• Increases in assets as a result of production give rise to revenue (although there was concern about the several definitions of 'revenue' used by the Board members). That piece of comprehensive income should be labelled something like 'income from production' or 'production income' rather than a gain.
• Reporting subcontracting and outsourcing activities separately provides useful information to investors and creditors. This information should be provided on the income statement.
• Revenues arise for a reporting entity from the performance by a third party of a contractual obligation to a customer for which the reporting entity continues to be obligated. A legal layoff ob a contractual obligation to a customer does not eliminate this liability.
• Outsourcing revenues do not reduce the amount of revenues-they just change the aggregation of expenses.

These decisions and statements will be further discussed at the joint meeting with the FASB.