September

IFRSs required for banks in Mozambique in 2007

11 Sep 2007

The Government of the Republic of Mozambique and the Bank of Mozambique (BM, the central bank) are requiring all Mozambique banks to start publishing IFRS financial statements in 2007. The IFRS requirement will be extended to large non-banking corporations starting in 2009. The BM itself began reporting under IFRSs in 2006. The requirements were set out in:

  • A joint letter of intent from the Government of Mozambique and the BM to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) dated 28 March 2007 (available on the IMF's Website Mozambique Page; and also in
  • A public notice (Aviso No. 4/GBM/2007) issued by the Bank of Mozambique on 25 March 2007.

Although not expressly addressed in the letter of intent and notice, the Government has informally indicated that it expects to extend the IFRS requirement to insurance companies in 2008 and to medium-sized companies in 2010. We have created a new Mozambique Page.

Excerpt from Letter of Intent from Government of Mozambique and Bank of Mozambique to the IMF Dated 28 March 2007

27. The BM will also continue to strengthen and modernize its supervisory functions and implement the recently approved organizational changes in view of strengthening onsite and off-site monitoring. In this regard, training to adopt a risk-based supervision approach will start in 2007, at which time the new inspection manuals will also be used. The BM is implementing a timetable to adopt IFRS in the banking system in 2007. Based on the results of the FSTAP study, to be completed by mid-2008, the application of IFRS will also be extended to the corporate sector in January 2009 for large companies. This will improve the ability of the financial system to evaluate the quality of their loan portfolios. Further, new regulation on the assessment, classification and provisioning of credits as well as a regulation on integral risk management for credit institutions and finance companies have been approved and will become effective during the first semester of 2007. The BM will issue its own 2006 financial statements in line with IFRS in 2007.

Proposed revisions to IPSAS on foreign exchange rates

11 Sep 2007

IFAC's International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) has published an exposure draft (ED) of revisions to the standard that addresses accounting for fluctuations in exchange rates.

ED 33, Amendments to IPSAS 4, The Effects of Changes in Foreign Exchange Rates, proposes to update IPSAS 4 to reflect the latest revisions to the corresponding IFRS issued by the IASB, particularly recent revisions to IAS 21 The Effects of Changes in Foreign Exchange Rates. Click for Press Release (PDF 30k). Comments on the ED are requested by 31 December 2007. The ED may be viewed by going to www.ifac.org/EDs.

 

UNCTAD reports on practical IFRS implementation issues

11 Sep 2007

In connection with the meeting of the Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting (ISAR) on 30 October and 1 November 2007, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has published three case studies of practical implementation issues for IFRSs in three countries.

The UNCTAD secretariat has also prepared a summary of the main practical implementation issues identified in the case studies. These include practical implementation issues in the areas of regulatory framework, enforcement, and technical capacity-building. Click to download: Click here for More Information About UNCTAD and ISAR (UNCTAD website).

 

Deloitte Korea IFRS website

11 Sep 2007

The IFRS Services Group of Deloitte Anjin LLC, the Deloitte member firm in Korea, has developed a Korean language IAS Plus website.

www.iasplus.co.kr

The website includes selected news stories and other information from this site, as well as local news, in Korean.

 

US SEC history - speeches back to 1960

10 Sep 2007

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has added to its website the texts of Speeches and Public Statements by Members and Staff of the SEC dating back to 1960.

This is a extraordinary archive of technical and political debate that has continuing relevance today.

Click to view Speeches and Public Statements by Members and Staff of the SEC.

IFRIC issues pages updated

10 Sep 2007

We have updated our IFRIC agenda issues pages to reflect the deliberations at the September 2007 meeting of the International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC), as follows:

SEC staff comments on compensation disclosures

09 Sep 2007

We have posted the 7 September 2007 Edition of the Heads Up Newsletter published by Deloitte & Touche LLP (United States).

This issue of Heads Up summarises recent comment letters from the SEC staff to the chief executive officers of registrants, which asked for more detail and clarification regarding the revised executive and director compensation disclosures in the registrants' filings. The SEC staff has performed a comprehensive review of the first filings that include these revised disclosures and had comments on various topics, including performance targets, change of control, and Compensation Discussion and Analysis.
Click to view 7 September 2007 Edition of the Heads Up Newsletter (PDF 116k).

 

IASB Vice Chairman Tom Jones in FEI Hall of Fame

09 Sep 2007

Financial Executives International (FEI) has announced that Thomas Jones, Vice Chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board and Samuel Siegel, former Vice Chairman, CFO, Treasurer and Secretary for Nucor Corporation have been selected as inductees for the 2007 class of the FEI Hall of Fame.

The FEI Hall of Fame, co-sponsored by Deloitte & Touche USA LLP, recognises individuals who epitomise the performance, leadership, and integrity of the most exemplary financial executives throughout their careers. Click for FEI Press Release (PDF 42k).

Thomas E Jones was appointed to the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in January 2001. Mr. Jones has held numerous significant leadership positions throughout his career and has nearly 40 years of experience in various aspects of international financial reporting. Prior to his current position, Mr. Jones held high ranking positions at Citicorp for nearly two decades, most recently as the Principal Financial Officer and Executive Vice President where he was responsible for financial reporting issues spanning more than 100 countries.

Mr. Jones previously served successively for the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) as a vice-chairman and member of the Executive Committee (1998-2000) and as Chairman (2000-2001). He has also held the position of Chairman of FEI's Committee on Corporate Reporting, and served as trustee of the Financial Accounting Foundation and as a member of the Financial Accounting Standards Board's (FASB) Emerging Issues Task Force. His role there contributed significant impact to the development of new accounting standards and he is credited by his peers with developing the ongoing dialogue between the IASB and standard setting organizations around the world.

 

Notes from the September 2007 IFRIC meeting

08 Sep 2007

The International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) met at the IASB's offices in London on Thursday and Friday 6 and 7 September 2007.

The preliminary and unofficial Deloitte observer notes are available on our September 2007 IFRIC meeting page.

 

FASB rethinks the objective of financial reporting

07 Sep 2007

At its meeting on 29 August 2007, the US Financial Accounting Standards Board redeliberated issues related to the objective of financial reporting – the basic building block of the conceptual framework that FASB and IASB are jointly developing.

Specifically, the FASB addressed (1) concerns raised by respondents about the role of stewardship in the objective of financial reporting and (2) the logical flow of Chapter 1 of the FASB's Preliminary Views. FASB's Action Alert of September 6, 2007 reports the following decisions:

FASB conclusions on the objective of financial reporting:

  1. The objective of general purpose external financial reporting is to provide financial information about the reporting entity that is useful to present and potential investors and creditors in making decisions in their capacity as capital providers.
  2. Chapter 1 of the Exposure Draft should be structured as follows so that it flows logically from the premise that the basic perspective of financial reporting is that of the entity.
    1. The basic perspective underlying financial reporting is the perspective of the reporting entity.
    2. That entity perspective involves reporting on the entity's resources (assets), the claims on the entity's resources (liabilities and equity), and the changes in them.
    3. The primary user group comprises those who have a claim (or potentially may have a claim) on the entity's resources – its present and potential equity investors and creditors (capital providers). The objective of financial reporting is focused on meeting the information needs of the primary user group.
    4. The primary user group is interested in financial information because that information is useful in the decision making of investors and creditors in their capacity as capital providers.
    5. The decisions made by investors and creditors include resource allocation decisions as well as decisions relating to protecting or enhancing their claim on the resources of an entity.
    6. Investors and creditors use information about an entity's resources, claims to those resources, and changes in resources and claims as inputs into the decision-making process.
    7. Other potential user groups may benefit from financial reporting information, but they are not the focus of the objective.

 

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.