The purpose of this session was to resolve five additional matters that arose during the balloting of the exposure draft of proposed additional exemptions for first-time adopters in IFRS 1.

Need for additional exemption related to IAS 17

The staff informed the Board that on further reflection, this additional exemption was considered unnecessary. The Board agreed.

Fair value before the date of transition to IFRSs

The staff expressed concerns about the necessity of this additional exemption. The reason was the risk that values for items previously derecognised would under IFRSs be determined with hindsight. On balance, the staff recommended to delete this additional exemption from the exposure draft. The Board agreed.

Decommissioning, restoration and similar liabilities included in the cost of PP&E

The Board had a lengthy discussion on whether and how to allocate the additional asset resulting from an asset retirement obligation recognised as a liability between cost of sales, inventory and PP&E. In the end, the Board seemed to lean towards a retained earnings approach (that is, recognising the cost for the liability in retained earnings), but it was agreed that more work would have to be done on this issue.

Oil and gas assets

The staff highlighted that the Basis for Conclusions provided the rationale on why the Board agreed to provide an exemption for the measurement of oil and gas assets. Some Board members questioned the relevance and, hence, the inclusion of the words used. After some debate, the Board agreed to delete the paragraphs concerned in the Basis for Conclusions.

Question regarding additional circumstances in which relief is necessary for assessments under previous GAAP before the date of transition

Some Board members questioned the inclusion of a specific question in the Invitation to Comment, which had been specifically requested by some (other) Board members. The Board agreed to keep the question in the Invitation to Comment.