October

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Updated IFAC guide to the audit of SMEs

19 Oct 2010

The Small and Medium Practices (SMP) Committee of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) has published the second edition of its Guide to Using International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) in the Audit of Small- and Medium-sized Entities.

The implementation guide is intended to help practitioners understand and efficiently apply the Clarified International Standards on Auditing (ISAs), which are effective for audits of financial statements for periods beginning on or after 15 December 2009.

Click for IFAC press release (link to IFAC website). The guide may be Downloaded from IFAC's website.

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IASB and FASB consult on effective dates for convergence accounting standards

18 Oct 2010

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) today published documents seeking views on when new financial reporting standards resulting primarily from their work to improve and achieve convergence of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) and US generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) should become effective.

With a number of major projects planned to be completed in 2011, the boards are seeking views on whether or how to sequence effective dates in order to reduce the burden to interested parties. In deciding how to proceed, the IASB will consider the needs of jurisdictions already using IFRSs as well as those planning to do so. Feedback from the consultation will inform the boards as they jointly develop an implementation plan for those new standards that helps stakeholders to manage both the pace and cost of change.

The request for views is open for comment until 31 January 2011.

Click for:

 

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IFRS adoption will need five years preparation time

18 Oct 2010

In a comment letter on the call for views on aspects of possible IFRS transition of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) supports the goal of a single set of high-quality, comprehensive accounting standards to be used by public companies in the preparation of transparent and comparable financial reports throughout the world and notes that the standards issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) are best positioned to become those standards.

However, the AICPA warns that companies will need five years preparation time to adopt IFRS if the SEC requires two years of historical comparative financial statements. If only one year of comparative financial statements is required, a four-year transition period would be needed to adopt IFRS. The AICPA would support a decision by the SEC to require only one year of comparative financial statements.

Click for AICPA comment letter to the SEC (PDF 269k, link to AICPA website).

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IFRS for SMEs — additional training materials published

18 Oct 2010

The IFRS Foundation has published additional modules of its comprehensive set of training materials for the IFRS for SMEs.

There will be one training module for each of the 35 sections in the IFRS for SMEs, 22 are so far available, and the remaining 13 modules are planned for release before the end of 2010. Each module is one PDF file and can be downloaded without charge from the IFRS Foundation's Website. Click here to go to the Training Materials. Available modules cover Sections 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29, and 32 of the IFRS for SMEs. More information on the IFRS for SMEs is available in our IAS Plus page summarizing the IFRS for SMEs.

 

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Japanese translation of our IFRS in Focus newsletter on the Conceptual Framework

18 Oct 2010

Deloitte's IFRS Centre of Excellence in Japan has published a Japanese translation of the following IFRS in Focus newsletter: IASB completes first phase of joint project on Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting.

Click for the Japanese traslation of IFRS in Focus newsletter: IASB completes first phase of joint project on Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting (PDF 197k). Here is the English Version (PDF 67k). Our summary of the Conceptual Framework project can be found Here.

We have put permanent links to all Japanese translations of the IFRS in Focus newsletters can be found here. The Japan Center of Excellence IFRS web pages are Here (in Japanese).

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IASB and FASB announce public roundtable meetings on insurance contracts proposals

18 Oct 2010

The IASB and FASB plan to hold several public roundtable meetings in December 2010 to discuss the their joint Insurance Contracts project.

The purpose of these roundtable meetings is to listen to the views of, and obtain information from, interested stakeholders about the IASB/FASB exposure draft on insurance contracts.

The dates and locations of the roundtables are as follows (exact times and locations are yet to be announced):

  • Tokyo - Thursday 9 December 2010
  • London - Thursday 16 December 2010
  • Norwalk, Connecticut - Monday 20 December 2010

Those who wish to participate in the roundtables in Tokyo and London must register to do so by 1 November 2010. Those who wish to participate in the roundtable in Norwalk must register by 15 November 2010. Click for FASB media release (United States session only, link to FASB website).

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Canadian securities regulators introduce amendments to oil and gas disclosure

18 Oct 2010

The Canadian Securities Administrators have introduced amendments to National Instrument 51-101 Standards of Disclosure for Oil and Gas Activities and related forms, which are designed to improve and clarify the disclosure of oil and gas reporting issuers.

The proposed amendments fall into three broad categories:

  • amendments for clarification
  • amendments to codify existing staff guidance and practice
  • added requirements to enhance reliability of certain disclosure of reserves and resources other than reserves.

One aspect of the amendments is to create rules for the guidance that had previously been provided for the disclosure of reserves and resources other than reserves. The amendments will come into force across Canada on December 30, 2010.

The IASB earlier this year formally released DP/2010/1 Extractive Activities, which also proposes disclosure of reserves and resources information. In our comment letter on DP/2010/1 (PDF 82k), we noted the importance of the IASB and regulators applying the same reserve and resource definitions and disclosures to avoid the need for multiple and costly reserve and resource calculations under differing frameworks.

Click for press release (link to CSA website). Our Canada country page is Here.

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Revenue recognition for technology companies

18 Oct 2010

In June 2010, the IASB and the FASB jointly published an Exposure Draft (ED) on Revenue from Contracts with Customers.

If adopted, the proposals would supersede IAS 11 Construction Contracts and IAS 18 Revenue and related interpretations. The core principle proposed in the ED would require an entity to recognise revenue to depict the transfer of goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration that it expects to receive in exchange for those goods or services.

What makes this ED even more significant is that the two GAAPs differ most in their approach: current IFRS has comparatively little guidance, compared to the series of detailed rules on application that US GAAP has.

Deloitte UK has now published Revenue recognition for technology companies, giving examples of how the proposed approach in the Exposure Draft will be applied in scenarios common to technology companies who report under both IFRS and US GAAP.

Click for Revenue recognition for technology companies (PDF 2,295k). Comment deadline on the ED is 22 October 2010.

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October 2010 IASB meeting – changes to agenda

16 Oct 2010

There have been changes to the agenda and running order on all meeting days of the October 2010 IASB meeting.

The updated agenda is available here.

 

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Deloitte IFRS Podcast on financial instruments: hedge accounting

15 Oct 2010

Andrew Spooner, lead IFRS financial instruments partner, and Bob Uhl, head of the US Accounting Standards group and IFRS Centre, debate the IASB and FASB's proposals for hedge accounting.

They debate the FASB proposals contained in their exposure draft on accounting for financial instruments and how they compare with the tentative conclusions the IASB has reached in developing their to be issued exposure draft. The discussion is chaired by Robert Bruce. The podcast is available for download here (18:28 mins, 22mb) or via iTunes; it is the third in a series that will be posted to IAS Plus. All podcasts of the series are available here.

 

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