The tentative agenda is shown below. The Board will also meet with the Standards Advisory Council (SAC) on Thursday and Friday 13-14 November 2008, at the Renaissance Chancery Court Hotel in London. The SAC meeting will be open to public observation. See our earlier news item for the agenda for the SAC meeting.

Tuesday 18 November 2008 (afternoon only)

• Conceptual Framework Phase C – Measurement
• Conceptual Framework Phase D – Reporting Entity

Wednesday 19 November 2008

• IFRIC Update
  • Transition and Effective Date of IFRIC Interpretation 15
  • Ratification of IFRIC 17 Distributions of Non-cash Assets to Owners
• Post-employment Benefits – initial discussion of responses to discussion paper
• Related Party Disclosures– sweep issues arising from re-exposure ballot draft
• Financial Instruments – Comprehensive Project
  • Agenda proposal
  • Upcoming IASB-FASB roundtables
• Derecognition

Thursday 20 November 2008

• IFRS for Private Entities (formerly IFRS for SMEs) – Recognition, Measurement, and Presentation
• Fair Value Measurements
• Financial Instruments with Characteristics of Equity (Liabilities and Equity)
• Leases

Friday 21 November 2008 (morning only)

• Consolidation
• Standards Advisory Council Update
• Sweep issues from this meeting, if any

p>In anticipation of the G20 Summit Meeting in Washington on 15 November 2008, the EU will have a summit of EU leaders today. The IDW is concerned that at both the EU summit and then the G20 summit, there will be political pressure on national leaders to discuss, and possibly make decisions on, technical accounting standards issues that should be addressed by the IASB. Click to download the IDW letter (PDF 395k). Here is an excerpt:

The enclosed article from the Financial Times newspaper dated November 3, 2008 infers that the French Government intends, given the current crisis experienced in financial markets, to propose that the application of International Financial Reporting Standards in the European Union be debated at the forthcoming EU summit on November 7, 2008. We have not been able to establish the accuracy of this reported information. However, we have heard, from more than one source, of rumours that the French government may be intending to seek a partial or even full suspension of specific requirements of the Regulation (EC) No 1606/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 July 2002 on the application of international accounting standards (lAS Regulation). Such a move would mean that companies listed on the European stock markets would no longer be required to fully apply IFRS.

We would like to request you to ensure that the EU Commission resists any attempts to introduce such measures, were they to be put forward. The original aim of the lAS Regulation, to require financial reporting by companies listed on capital markets in Europe to be transparent and to be internationally accepted, as a measure to ensure the competitiveness of the capital markets in Europe, remains just as valid today. The complexity of the interrelationships between capital markets globally means that it is essential that capital market participants receive consistent information, to facilitate meaningful comparison, and thus it is essential that unified financial reporting principles be applied.

We previously reported that the first one will be held in London on 14 November 2008. The roundtables are intended to help the boards identify any accounting issues that may require the urgent and immediate attention. Here are details of the roundtables:

Click for:

• IASB/FASB announcement of roundtables (PDF 127k).
• More information about the credit crisis and accounting issues.

The ICAP President's Communication (PDF 33k) of 13 October 2008 states that, for this purpose, only two IFRSs – IFRS 1 and IFRS 4 – remain to be legally adopted, and some changes are required in an Ordinance.

The meeting will be open to public observation. The agenda is presented below.

The consolidated version puts together all IFRS endorsed to date – that is, those endorsed from 29 September 2003 to 15 October 2008. This action does not encompass the entire current body of IFRSs, because 14 IASB pronouncements still remain to be endorsed for use in the EU, and the EU has made some modifications of IAS 39. Also, EC adoption does not include the implementation guidance and bases for conclusions that the IASB issues with its Standards. The EC's new consolidated text will be available in all official EU languages. All cross-references have been updated, and the translations have been reviewed and 'overhauled'. Formally, the adoption of the consolidated text was done by Regulation (EC) No 1004/2008. Click for:

• EC press release (PDF 84k)
• Consolidated text of IFRSs as endorsed by the EC (PDF 1,966k)
• More information on EC website

The Commission statement (PDF 86k) said:

The European Commission welcomes the guidance on the application of fair value measurement when markets become inactive published by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) on 31 October 2008. The Commission considers that the IASB's position is fully consistent with the joint statement issued by the 3 European committees of supervisors and with similar guidance recently issued by the relevant US bodies.