September

Global audit regulators' group holds their second meeting

27 Sep 2007

The International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators (IFIAR) held its second meeting on 24 and 25 September 2007 in Toronto.

Audit regulators from 21 countries participated. Matters discussed at the meeting included:
  • Possible implications for audit regulators of current market turbulence
  • The role of audit inspections in driving audit quality
  • Exchange of information between regulators
  • Issues relating to International Auditing Standards.
  • Audit market concentration and choice
  • Cooperation between regulators in relation to registration and/or notification of auditors of foreign issuers
  • The holding of workshops for members on audit inspection techniques
  • Continue dialogue with other international organizations which have an interest in audit quality
  • The future role and organization of IFIAR
Click for Press Release (PDF 40k). See our news story of 25 March 2007 for additional information.

 

XBRL 'taxonomy' for US GAAP has been completed

27 Sep 2007

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has announced that all work on developing XBRL data tags for the entire system of US generally accepted accounting principles has been completed.

This will enable companies to more easily encode their financial statements in the XBRL language. XBRL makes the analysis and exchange of corporate financial information easier and more reliable by allowing data to be extracted and processed automatically by XBRL-aware applications. Click for SEC Press Release (PDF 34k).

 

IASB and Accounting Standards Board of Japan will meet

26 Sep 2007

The IASB and the Accounting Standards Board of Japan will meet at the IASB's offices in London on Thursday and Friday 27 and 28 September 2007 (mornings only both days).

The meeting is open to public observation. The agenda for the meeting is:

Thursday 27 September 2007

  • Consolidation (including special purpose entities)
  • Liabilities and Equity

Friday 28 September 2007

  • Update on IASB Activities
  • Revenue Recognition

 

Four projects will be proposed for IASB agenda

26 Sep 2007

At the meeting of the IASB and World Standard Setters in London on 24 and 25 September 2007, IASB staff identified four projects that will be proposed to the IASB in December 2007 as possible additions to the IASB's technical agenda:

  • Intangible assets. Staff indicated that the existing standard (IAS 38) 'is not very good' and that the project is likely to 'move to a standard that recognises, to a greater degree, intangible assets in the balance sheet'.
  • Common control transactions. Transactions between entities under common control are not currently addressed in IFRSs and are specifically excluded from IFRS 3 Business Combinations. Nor are they being addressed in Phase 2 of the business combinations project. Examples of such transactions include group restructurings and acquisition of one entity by another when the owners of the two entities end up with the same percentage ownership of the combined entity.
  • Emission rights trading and government grants. IFRIC 3 Emission Rights was issued in December 2004 but withdrawn in June 2005. Because emission rights are usually granted by a government, they are an example of a government grant. The project would reconsider IAS 20 Accounting for Government Grants and Disclosure of Government Assistance.
  • Management commentary. The IASB published a discussion paper on Management Commentary prepared by some partner standard-setters in October 2005. That paper defines management commentary as follows:

Management commentary is information that accompanies financial statements as part of an entity's financial reporting. It explains the main trends and factors underlying the development, performance and position of the entity's business during the period covered by the financial statements. It also explains the main trends and factors that are likely to affect the entity's future development, performance and position.

The IASB staff also said that while good progress has been made by several partner standard setters in developing an agenda proposal on the Extractive Industries (oil and gas and mining) it will not be ready for Board consideration in December. Staff expressed a hope that it might be ready for agenda consideration in the fourth quarter of 2008. Staff also said they are exploring a possible agenda project that would involve a review of IAS 41 Agriculture.

 

We support SEC's proposal to eliminate the reconciliation

25 Sep 2007

Deloitte has submitted a letter supporting the SEC's Proposed Rule, Acceptance from Foreign Private Issuers of Financial Statements Prepared in Accordance With IFRSs Without Reconciliation to US GAAP. We do suggest, however, that when a non-US registrant uses local GAAP or a 'jurisdictional version' of IFRSs, it should be permitted to reconcile to IFRSs as an alternative to reconciling to US GAAP.

Here is our overall view:

We agree with the Commission's proposal to eliminate the US GAAP reconciliation for foreign private issuers that use IFRSs and believe that it is an important step toward developing a single set of globally accepted accounting standards. We note, however, that there may be issues in certain jurisdictions with the proposal that use of IFRSs is required if a company wishes not to reconcile to US GAAP. In European countries, for example, endorsement or approval of IFRSs by local authorities is required before such standards can be applied. Consequently, when a foreign private issuer is required to follow the 'jurisdictional version' of IFRSs in describing how it has prepared its financial statements, it may not be able to make an explicit and unreserved statement of compliance with IFRSs because certain standards have not yet been endorsed or approved by the local authority.

Given these constraints, we believe that the Commission should consider allowing foreign private issuers that use local GAAP (including jurisdictional IFRSs) to reconcile to IFRSs instead of US GAAP, which would give them a choice of one of the following:

  • US GAAP
  • IFRSs
  • Local GAAP (including jurisdictional IFRSs) reconciled to either US GAAP or IFRSs
Click for:

 

New Global Offerings Services newsletter

24 Sep 2007

We have posted the August 2007 Edition of the Deloitte Global Offerings Services Newsletter.

Global Offerings Services is a global team of Deloitte practitioners assisting non-US companies and non-US practice office engagement teams in applying US and International accounting standards (that is, US GAAP and IFRSs) and in complying with the SEC's financial reporting rules. The GOs Newsletter is an update on relevant GAAP, regulatory, and other matters, webcasts, and publications, with hyperlinks to source material.
Click to view August 2007 Edition of the Deloitte Global Offerings Services Newsletter (PDF 144k). Past GOs Newsletters are Here.

 

Deloitte will co-sponsor an IFRS conference in London

23 Sep 2007

Deloitte is one of the sponsors of a conference titled IFRS 2007/8: Current Practical Interpretation and Future Direction, to be held in London on 4 October 2007. The opening event is a dialog with IASB Chairman Sir David Tweedie.

Subsequent sessions will focus on IFRSs from an analyst's point of view, a preparer's view, audit and regulatory issues, legal issues, and implementation issues. A concluding forum will consider 'where do we go from here'. Deloitte speakers at the conference are Ken Wild, Deloitte's Global IFRS Leader, and Isobel Sharp, Deloitte UK Partner who currently is President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland. Click for Conference Brochure (PDF 145k).

Summary of issues not added to IFRIC agenda is updated

23 Sep 2007

We have updated our Summary of Issues Not Added to IFRIC's Agenda to reflect the IFRIC's final decisions at its September 2007 meeting not to add the following four topics to its agenda.

Our summary now includes over 125 issues:
  • IFRS 5 – Disclosures
  • IAS 18 – Guidance on identifying agency relationships
  • IAS 19 – Benefit allocation for defined benefit plans
  • IAS 39 – Hedging future cash flows with purchased options

FEI web address has changed

22 Sep 2007

Financial Executives International (FEI) has changed its Web address to www.financialexecutives.org.

The old address was www.fei.org. Later this year, FEI intends to launch a redesigned website. FEI's old domain address has been released to the Federation Equestre Internationale, the governing body for horse sport. An interim web page will ask visitors to www.fei.org to choose either group's site for 45 days. Click for FEI Press Release (PDF 30k).

 

 

Correction list for hyphenation

These words serve as exceptions. Once entered, they are only hyphenated at the specified hyphenation points. Each word should be on a separate line.