March

European Outreach on the IASB's main projects

31 Mar 2011

The IASB intends to finalise its projects on revenue recognition, leases, insurance contracts and financial instruments in June 2011. The European National Standard Setters and the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) are organising outreach events throughout Europe in May 2011, in order to provide useful input to the IASB for completion of the projects and to ensure that the final standards are suitable for use in Europe.

The objective of the events is:

  • to familiarise European constituents with the tentative decisions that the IASB has made in the re-deliberation phase of these projects;
  • to find out whether those tentative decisions are solving major concerns expressed by the European constituents during the consultation phase; and
  • to identify whether changes made, compared to the proposals in the Exposure Drafts, give rise to any new major concerns.

An overview of the tentative dates and places is given below. Further information is available on EFRAG's website.

European Outreach on the IASB's main projects – tentative dates and places

  • Copenhagen: Tuesday 3 May 2011 (confirmed)
  • Helsinki: Monday 9 May 2011 (confirmed)
  • Frankfurt: Monday 9 May 2011 (to be confirmed)
  • London: Tuesday 10 May 2011 (to be confirmed)
  • Amsterdam: Tuesday 10 May 2011 (confirmed)
  • Rome: date to be confirmed

Click for:

New Zealand restructures standard setting regime

31 Mar 2011

Standard setting in New Zealand is currently undergoing transformation to a new regime.

The New Zealand Accounting Standards Review Board (ASRB) and Financial Reporting Standards Board (FRSB) are being replaced with effect from 1 July 2011.

The ASRB will be replaced by an External Reporting Board (XRB). The New Zealand Accounting Standards Board (NZASB) and the New Zealand Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (NZAuASB) will be responsible for accounting and auditing and assurance standards respectively.

The New Zealand Minister of Commerce, the Hon Simon Power, has announced the appointment of the members of the External Reporting Board. The XRB will comprise the existing members of the ASRB (Kevin Simpkins who will continue as Chairman, Simon Carey, Michele Embling, Graeme Mitchell, Ralph Simpson, and Ken Warren) plus two new members, Neil Cherry and Annabel Cotton.

More information about the changes is available in an ASRB Communiqué (link to ASRB website).

Monitoring Board and IFRS Foundation Trustees Meeting

31 Mar 2011

The IFRS Foundation Trustees are currently meeting in London.

On the public part of the agenda (31 March) were reports by the different bodies of the organisation (report of the Due Process Oversight Committee, report of the IASB Chairman, report of the IFRS Advisory Council Chair, report of the Executive Committee on the status of the Strategy Review, and report of the Education and Content Services Committee). Please click here for the agenda papers handed out and a webcast of the meeting (link to IASB website).

Tomorrow, on 1 April, the IFRS Foundation Trustees will meet with the Monitoring Board. On the agenda are the following topics:

  • Governance review – status update by the Monitoring Board Working Group
  • Strategy review – status update by the Trustees
  • Trustees Chair search / Trustees nominations and appointments
  • IASB-FASB progress report on convergence
  • Budget and financing strategy

Please click here for agenda papers and registration as an observer or for the webcast of the meeting (link to IASB website).

iGAAP: IFRS for Canada (Third edition)

30 Mar 2011

Deloitte (Canada) has released the third edition of Deloitte iGAAP: IFRS for Canada, a comprehensive reference book on the transition of Canadian GAAP to IFRS.

It includes expanded Canadian content and reflects current thinking in key industries. Written for Canadians by Canadian practitioners, the book provides a roadmap to help companies understand how to effectively transition from Canadian GAAP to IFRS.

New features in the third edition include:

  • A chapter on example disclosures of financial instruments drawn from actual financial reports
  • Standards that became effective in 2010, such as IFRICs, Annual Improvements, and IFRS 9
  • Guidance on researching IFRS topics
  • Canadian IFRS issues specific to oil and gas, mining, and rate-regulated industries.

More information about the publication and ordering can be found Here.

Deadline reminder – Supplement on impairment and report on IFRS Foundation's governance

30 Mar 2011

We remind you that comments on the Supplement to Exposure Draft: Financial Instruments: Impairment and Consultative Report on the Review of the IFRS Foundation's Governance are due on 1 April 2011 and 8 April 2011, respectively.

The supplement on impairment proposes to replace the incurred loss impairment models in IAS 39 and US GAAP with an expected loss impairment model including separate approaches to recognising expected losses for performing assets in a "good book" and for troubled assets in a "bad book".

The report on the IFRS Foundation's governance seeks public comment on a series of proposals and alternatives under consideration to improve the governance structure supporting International Financial Reporting Standards.

Click for our earlier stories on the supplement to exposure draft on impairment and the report on governance review for public consultation.

UK parliamentary body urges caution over IFRS

30 Mar 2011

The UK House of Lords committee examining audit concentration and the role of audit has issued its report.

Although it mainly calls for the re-establishing of confidential dialogue between bank auditors and supervisors it also contains some observations on the role which IFRS should play. Chapter 5 of the report is dealing with the impact of IFRS on the banking sector. Here is an extract:

Click Here (link to UK Parliament website) for the full report.

IASB responds to SEC warning over XBRL taxonomy

30 Mar 2011

Hans Hoogervorst, incoming Chairman of the IASB, has responded to a warning from Mike Starr, SEC Deputy Chief Accountant, that the SEC would continue to refuse to allow company filings under IFRS to use XBRL.

Starr told a conference that 'there is still concern about the adequacy of IFRS taxonomy'. Hoogervorst said that further proposals in April would extend the scope of the taxonomy. "I am hopeful we can address the problems the SEC is seeing and hopefully the use of IFRS taxonomy can be allowed. A lot of these problems will be solved", he said.

Notes from the additional March IASB meeting

29 Mar 2011

The IASB held an additional meeting in London on 29 March 2011, some of which was a joint meeting with the FASB.

We've posted Deloitte observer notes from the meeting (click through for direct access to the notes for each topic):

Tuesday, 29 March 2011

The IASB and FASB have tentatively scheduled an additional joint meeting on 5-6 April 2011. The next regular IASB meeting is scheduled for 11-15 April 2011.

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

Update on IASB meetings

29 Mar 2011

Further to our story yesterday, the IASB has updated the agenda for its meeting on 29 March 2011, adding an IASB only session on financial statement presentation (discontinued operations).

Observer papers for the meeting have also been made available on the IASB website.

The IASB and FASB have also tentatively announced an additional joint meeting to be held on 5-6 April 2011. Confirmation of this additional meeting and the agenda will be announced closer to the tentative meeting date.

The revised summary of the agenda for the 29 March meeting can be found here.

Deloitte publications update

29 Mar 2011

The following Deloitte publications are now available:

Global publications

Deloitte (Canada)

Deloitte (Japan)

 

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