• Principles-based accounting: The application of judgement in the application of IFRS principles
• Events after the reporting period
• An update on Canadian and international standard setting activities

Click here for IAASB Press Release (IFAC website), which includes a link to download the proposal. Comments are due by 31 March 2011.

The proposed three-tier approach, which has been developed and consulted on over the past six years, builds on the existing system:

• Tier 1 – Quoted groups will continue to report under international financial reporting standards (IFRS), as adopted by the EU. They would be joined in Tier 1 by other companies that are publicly accountable. This would apply if their debt is traded on public markets, or if they hold deposits or manage other people's money. (Some very small financial institutions would be exempt.)
• Tier 2 – All other UK entities, except those that apply the Financial Reporting Standard for Smaller Entities (FRSSE), would report under a new standard based on the IFRS for SMEs, which is considerably shorter and less complicated than current UK standards. The FRSME, as it would be called, would be modified to comply with UK and EU law and to ease tax reporting.
• Tier 3 – The smallest companies will continue to use the simplified version of UK standards, the FRSSE.

The consultation period will run until 30 April 2011. It is proposed that the new framework would be effective from 1 July 2013.

The document published today includes an explanation of the proposals, a draft Impact Assessment and the two new proposed standards. Click for:

• ASB press release (link to ASB website)
• The Future of Financial Reporting - Part One: Explanation (PDF 528k)
• The Future of Financial Reporting - Part Two: Draft Financial Reporting Standards (PDF 1.174k)
• The Future of Financial Reporting - Appendices (PDF 339k)
• A Key Facts Document compiled by the ASB (PDF 274k)
• Our UK country page

We've posted French translations of our IFRS in Focus newsletters, prepared by Deloitte (Canada).

The editions available are as follows:

• Octobre 2010 - L'IASB termine la première phase du projet conjoint sur le cadre conceptuel de l'information financière (PDF 61k)
• Octobre 2010 - L'IASB publie un exposé-sondage sur la première application des IFRS après une période d'hyperinflation grave (PDF 58k)
• Septembre 2010 - L'IASB publie un exposé-sondage sur l'impôt différé : recouvrement des actifs sous-jacents (PDF 60k)
• Septembre 2010 - L'IASB publie un exposé-sondage sur l'élimination des dates fixes pour les nouveaux adoptants (PDF 58k)
• Août 2010 - L'IASB publie un exposé-sondage sur la comptabilisation des contrats de location (PDF 107k)
• Août 2010 - Contrats d'assurance (PDF 137k)
• Juillet 2010 - Publication d'un exposé-sondage de l'IASB sur l'évaluation de la juste valeur (PDF 55k)
• Juin 2010 - L'IASB propose des modifications à la présentation du résultat et des autres éléments du résultat global dans IAS 1 (PDF 70k)
• Juin 2010 - L'IASB et le FASB modifient leur stratégie de convergence (PDF 84k)
• Juin 2010 - L'IASB publie un exposé-sondage sur la comptabilisation des revenus (PDF 108k)
• Mai 2010 - La fin du corridor : l'IASB propose des changements importants à la comptabilisation des régimes de retraite (PDF 83k)
• Mai 2010 - L'IASB publie des propositions concernant l'option de la juste valeur pour les passifs financiers (PDF 60k)
• Mai 2010 - Améliorations aux IFRS 2010 (PDF 65k)

The English editions of IFRS in Focus are available Here.

• Cutting costs and improving transparency with an 'IFRS Center of Excellence' (see also our earlier story on this topic)
• Coming changes for lease accounting
• Accounting for property, plant, and equipment under IFRS - what companies should consider in an effort to achieve a successful conversion
• Building an IFRS internal training program.

Click for September-October 2010 IFRS Insight newsletter (PDF 299k).

The new requirements address the problem of volatility in profit or loss arising from an issuer choosing to measure its own debt at fair value. This is often referred to as the 'own credit' problem. The IASB decided to maintain the existing amortised cost measurement for most liabilities, limiting change to that required to address the own credit problem. With the new requirements, an entity choosing to measure a liability at fair value will present the portion of the change in its fair value due to changes in the entity's own credit risk in the other comprehensive income (OCI) section of the income statement, rather than within profit or loss.

IFRS 9 applies to financial statements for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2013. Entities are permitted to apply the new requirements in earlier periods, however, if they do, they must also apply the requirements in IFRS 9 that relate to financial assets.

Click for:

• IASB press release (PDF 33k)
• IASB feedback statement (PDF 95k)
• IAS Plus summary of IFRS 9 Financial Instruments
• IAS Plus summary of the IASB project to replace IAS 39: Accounting for the impairment of financial assets
• IAS Plus summary of the IASB project to replace IAS 39: Hedge accounting