November

G20 reiterates support for global accounting standards

12 Nov 2010

Following their summit meeting in Seoul on 11-12 November 2010, the leaders of the G20 group of nations have issued a Declaration reaffirming their support for a single set of global accounting standards as a means for strengthening the global financial market infrastructure.

This new Declaration makes reference to convergence deadline "by the end of 2011".

The G20 was first organised in the wake of the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s. With the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008, the G-20 has become the principal forum to lead global efforts to stem the crisis and mitigate its effects. Below is an excerpt from the Declaration following the Seoul summit.

38. We re-emphasized the importance we place on achieving a single set of improved high quality global accounting standards and called on the International Accounting Standards Board and the Financial Accounting Standards Board to complete their convergence project by the end of 2011. We also encouraged the International Accounting Standards Board to further improve the involvement of stakeholders, including outreach to, and membership of, emerging market economies, in the process of setting the global standards, within the framework of independent accounting standard setting process.

 

Canadian publication and webcast on CSA environmental reporting guidance

12 Nov 2010

On 27 October 2010, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) issued CSA Staff Notice 51-333 Environmental Reporting Guidance.

The result of a multi-stakeholder development process, the guidance provides report issuers with important insights into environmental disclosure and compliance requirements (see our earlier story).

Deloitte (Canada) recently published Environmental Reporting Guidance: CSA Staff Notice 51-333 - What does it mean, why does it matter and where do you go from here? The report outlines key insights from the new guidelines, provides key questions to consider, and includes a step-by-step response to prepare, implement, and govern effective environmental disclosure. The publication is available in both English (PDF 146k) and French (PDF 846k).

In addition, on Wednesday, 8 December 2010, Deloitte (Canada) will be hosting a webcast in conjunction with Tory's LLP and the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) to share perspectives on the guidance. Details are below:

  • Topic: CSA Staff Notice 51-333 — Environmental Reporting Guidance: How will it affect you?
  • Date and time: Wednesday, 8 December 2010, 11:00 am - 12:30 pm EST (CA)
  • More information on the webcast and registration: click here

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ASB issues Improvements to Financial Reporting Standards 2010

12 Nov 2010

The UK Accounting Standards Board (ASB) has published a Financial Reporting Standard (FRS) 'Improvements to Financial Reporting Standards 2010'.

The ASB is publishing this FRS so as to maintain the existing levels of convergence between UK and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), which will assist groups in preparing consistent financial statements where their consolidated and subsidiary financial statements are prepared in accordance with IFRS and FRS respectively. The FRS includes amendments to SSAP 25 'Segmental Reporting', FRS 8 'Related Party Disclosures' and FRS 29 (IFRS 7) 'Financial Instruments: Disclosures'.

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China completes convergence with International Standards on Auditing

11 Nov 2010

The Chinese Auditing Standards Board (CASB) and the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) met on 10 November to discuss convergence of international standards.

A press release issued after the meeting confirmed the CASB has completed the revision of Chinese Standards of Audit (CSAs), and achieved full convergence with the clarified International Standards on Auditing (ISAs).

During the process of international convergence, the CASB made limited additions it considered necessary and maintained some standards dealing with matters that are not specially covered in ISAs to reflect China's unique circumstances and business requirements. The revised CSAs were officially released in early November 2010, and are effective for audits of financial statements for periods beginning on or after 1 January 2011.

Previously, the parties had signed a milestone joint statement in December 2005, which pointed out that establishing and improving a single set of high-quality global auditing standards is a logical response to the trend of economic globalisation.

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Notes from Day 2 of the special November IASB meeting

11 Nov 2010

The IASB met in London on 11 November 2010 for the second day of a IASB and FASB special meeting.

The topics discussed were as follows:

Click here to go to the preliminary and unofficial Notes Taken by Deloitte Observers for the entire meeting.

IFRS presentation and disclosure checklist for 2010

11 Nov 2010

We have posted (ZIP of a Microsoft Word file 390k).

The checklist is formatted to allow the recording of a review of financial statements, with a place to indicate yes/no/not-applicable for each presentation and disclosure item.

A PDF version of this checklist will be available soon and posted with our various IFRS model financial statements and related checklists, including translations, which are available Here.

Japanese translation of our IFRS in Focus newsletter on effective dates

10 Nov 2010

Deloitte's IFRS Centre of Excellence in Japan has published a Japanese translation of the following IFRS in Focus newsletter: IASB issues request for views seeking input on transition and effective dates for certain IASB projects.

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The Japan Center of Excellence IFRS web pages are Here (in Japanese).

Australian publication on considerations for CFOs from leases proposals

10 Nov 2010

Deloitte (Australia) has published CFO Brief - Gearing up for change: New Lease Accounting Proposals.

The publication provides an overview of the IASB's leases proposals, the likely impact on financial metrics (including the impacts on expense profiles), stakeholder impacts and a summary of matters for Chief Financial Officers (or their equivalents) to consider. The publication will be useful to audiences outside of Australia as well, as many of the topics discussed are relevant globally.

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EFRAG outreach on Financial Statement Presentation project – questionnaire

10 Nov 2010

In July 2010, the IASB released on its website a staff draft of the exposure draft Financial Statement Presentation in order to solicit input and views from constituents, prior to publication of a final ED.

To assist the IASB in its efforts to gather views from European constituents, as well as to inform itself of whether, and to what extent, EFRAG preliminary views are representative of European views, EFRAG has organised outreach events throughout Europe in partnership with European National Standard Setters.

As part of the outreach activities, EFRAG has published a paper, which was intended to stimulate the debate by European constituents on the proposals included in the Draft ED. Prior to the outreach events, participants were asked to express their views on the issues through the use of a questionnaire.

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