So far snapshots on the following projects have been made available (click through for project summaries on IAS Plus):

• Derecognition
• Fair Value Measurement
• Financial Statement Presentation
• IFRS 9: Financial Instruments (replacement of IAS 39)
• Insurance Contracts
• Leases
• Liabilities
• Post-employment Benefits (including pensions)
• Rate-regulated Activities
• Revenue Recognition
• XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language)

The recommendations include a comment that the strategy, work plan and priorities of the IASB should reflect its objectives as set out in the IASB Constitution. The recommendations also seek to allow the new IASB Board to become better oriented before making extensive longer-term commitments, and would ease the transition from the old to the new Board. It also notes "convergence is not an objective as such and is intended merely as an interim step to facilitate adoption of IFRS".

In summary terms, the recommendations are:

Click for access to the recommendations (link to IASB website). We have a page on the Advisory Council Here.

• whether the definition of an asset is met;
• when the stripping campaign component should be recognised; and
• how the stripping campaign component should be measured at initial recognition and subsequently.

Click for:

• IFRS in Focus Newsletter – IFRS Interpretations Committee issues Draft Interpretation on Stripping Costs in the Production Phase of a Surface Mine (PDF 74k)
• Past editions of IFRS in Focus
• Our IAS 16: Accounting for Stripping Costs in the Production Phase of a Mine project page

The training material is designed to assist companies and accounting practitioners in applying the IFRS for SMEs, as well as serving as a tool for educators in teaching how to apply the standard. To date, 21 English-language and nine Spanish-language modules are available to download. The Spanish-language translations are available Here. The English editions are available Here. Permanent links to IFRS for SMEs resources are available on our IFRS for SMEs page.

• the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS)
• the Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Committee (CEIOPS)
• the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR)

These will now be replaced by the following regulatory authorities offering direct EU supervision of systemically important financial institutions:

• European Banking Authority (EBA)
• European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA)
• European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA)

The EBA, EIOPA and ESMA will be empowered to draft regulatory financial standards, which will be made legally binding by the Commission (and then legislated into effect in the member states). The agencies would be able to over-ride national decisions that do not conform to EU regulations.

In addition, a European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) will be established which will monitor and assess potential threats to financial stability that arise from macro-economic developments and from developments within the financial system as a whole.

The legislation is expected to be passed by the plenary assembly of the European Parliament on 21 September 2010. The new regulatory authorities could start working as early as 1. January 2011. More information about the new authorities can be found here (link to the European Commission page).

The proposals would amend the accounting for defined benefit plans through which some employers provide long-term employee benefits, such as pensions and post-employment medical care. Key proposals include the elimination of the 'corridor' approach for accounting for pensions, splitting of gains and losses on defined benefit plans (and other long-term employee benefits) into three components with remeasurements being presented as part of other comprehensive income (OCI), and new disclosures.

Below is an excerpt from the comment letter:

Click for:

• Complete letter of comment to IASB (PDF 61k)
• Our employee benefits project page
• Summary of ED/2010/3
• IAS Plus Update Newsletter Closing the Corridor – IASB Proposes Significant Changes to Pension Accounting (85k)

Amongst other issues, the alert highlights the Australian consequences of IASB ED/2010/3 Defined Benefit Plans — Proposed amendments to IAS 19, particularly in relation to liabilities arising from the Australian statutory requirement for employers to provide long service leave for eligible employees. The remeasurement component of movements in these liabilities would be recognised in other comprehensive income under the proposals and is causing some concern amongst Australian constituents.

The AASB Action Alert (PDF 69k, link to AASB website) issued by AASB from the meeting notes the following:

The comment period on IASB ED/2010/3 closes today (6 September 2010). Click for:

• Accounting alert 2010/11 (link to Deloitte Australia website)
• Our index of past Australian Accounting Alerts
• IAS Plus Update Newsletter Closing the Corridor – IASB Proposes Significant Changes to Pension Accounting (85k)

The topics discussed were as follows (click through to detailed Deloitte observer notes for that topic):

• IASB-only Projects
  • Liabilities (IAS 37)
  • Income Taxes
  • Rate Regulated Activities

• Major Projects
  • Leases
  • Revenue Recognition
  • Financial Instruments

• Other Projects
  • Financial Statements Presentation (including OCI)
  • Consolidation

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