The following project plan was discussed by the Board:

Concern was registered regarding the duration of this project, followed by suggestions that the Board should aim for a shorter project duration.

The staff indicated the reasons for the staggered approach and the anticipated duration of this project, highlighting the new territory that would be covered, resource constraints and the number of items already on the Board's agenda.

Suggestions for how to tackle the various phases of the project were discussed and noted. These included, addressing the 'elements' (e.g. distinction between liabilities and equity) as part of phase A, and defining the 'reporting entity' earlier as this would be essential in dealing with the other issues that follow. The staff indicated that it may be appropriate to amend the current Framework on a piece-meal basis depending on the nature of the new provisions but this would be assessed on an on-going basis.

The Board reiterated that the drafting of the framework required a 'top down' approach to the high level conceptual issues as well as a 'bottom up' approach to the more detailed aspects of those concepts, therefore, the items currently on the Board's agenda would allow the Board to test or explore the issues in this project indirectly. It was also noted that this approach was not well understood by commentators who criticised the Board for developing Standards that appeared to contradict the current Framework.

It was noted that some of the issues in the project plan had been initiated and commenced by some national standard setters (e.g. Canadian research project on initial measurement) which the Board agreed should be considered.

The overall plan was accepted by the Board, subject to the above suggestions and the staff were asked to implement it as well as consult the FASB on whether they concurred.

The Board agreed to initiate the process of appointing a Working Group that would assist the staff with this project.