The Board considered a proposal from the staff to consult the SAC and the IASC Foundation Trustees on adding a project to its agenda on pensions. The draft proposal was not available to observers.

The Board was asked for their preliminary views on which of the following possible project plans should be prepared and presented to SAC and the IASC Foundation:

• Option A. A long-term project, with targeted set of amendments to pensions, which in the first phase would be constrained by what the Board could finalise within a four-year period. It was explained that this would be the timeframe because of the due process, but also because this would open up for a finalisation of this part of the project within the timeframe of most of today's Board members.
• Option B. A limited-scope project, very similar to phase 1 of the project the FASB has addressed. Phase 1 of the FASB project is however limited, as it only addresses accounting in the balance sheet, while the income statement would remain untouched. The FASB currently expects to have its project finished by the end of 2006.

The discussion highlighted that Board members had more appetite for option A as an approach. However, the Board pointed out that if they were to take on a project, constituents must be informed that the project will address all issues on pensions, and that would end up in a new standard. The project would then be split into different phases where the Board would pick some issues that would be dealt specifically in during the first phase.

The Board decided that the staff should write a proposal for a long-term project. This proposal, which would be addressed for SAC and the IASC Foundation for an approval to be taken on the Boards agenda, should also include what the Board think should be dealt with within the different phases of the project.