February

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Two new IFRS Foundation Trustees appointed

10 Feb 2012

The IFRS Foundation has announced the appointment of James Quigley and C.B. Bhave as Trustees.

  • James (Jim) Quigley. Jim Quigley is a Senior Partner of the US member firm Deloitte LLP and former Global Chief Executive Officer of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited. Throughout his 37 years with the organisation Mr Quigley held many leadership roles and has built a distinguished track record of service to many multinational clients. In addition to his Deloitte responsibilities, Mr Quigley is co-Chairman of the TransAtlantic Business Dialogue and serves as a Board member and adviser to several organisations. He is a former Trustee of the Financial Accounting Foundation, a former Board member of the Center for Audit Quality and has served on financial reporting advisory committees to the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
  • C. B. Bhave. Mr Bhave is a former Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the Indian securities and market regulator. During this time he also served as Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Regional Committee and as a member of the Executive and Technical Committees of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO). Before chairing the SEBI, Mr Bhave served as Chairman and Managing Director of the National Securities Depository, during which time he led the reform of the Indian Tax Information Network and created India’s first share depository.

The appointments, approved by the IFRS Foundation Monitoring Board, begin immediately and will expire on 31 December 2014. The terms are renewable once.

Click for press release (link to IASB website). Deloitte has also released a press release about Mr Quigley's appointment.

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Updated IASB work plan released

09 Feb 2012

The IASB has released an updated work plan, dated 1 February 2012, incorporating the impacts of recently issued pronouncements and outlining revised 'current best estimates' for its various projects.

A new target date have been introduced for the IASB-FASB joint project on classification and measurement of financial instruments (limited amendments to IFRS 9). A number of key dates for other financial instrument projects have been deferred, as has the expected next step in the insurance contracts project.

The following is a summary of the changes in the revised work plan:

  • Financial instruments:
    • Classification and measurement - an exposure draft is expected to be issued in the second half of 2012
    • Impairment - re-exposure now expected in the second half of 2012 (previously the second quarter of 2012)
    • Macro hedge accounting - the possibility of a discussion paper has been added to the original intention for an exposure draft due in third quarter 2012
    • General hedge accounting - a review draft of general hedge accounting requirements is still expected in the first quarter of 2012, but the targeted completion of the standard now expected in the second half of 2012 (previously the second quarter of 2012)
  • Insurance contracts - review draft or re-exposure now expected in the second half of 2012 (previously the second quarter of 2012)

Click for IASB work plan as of 1 February 2012 (link to IASB website). We have updated our project pages to reflect the updated work plan and other known developments.

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Updated EFRAG 'endorsement status report'

09 Feb 2012

The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has updated its report showing the status of endorsement, under the EU Accounting Regulation, of each IFRS, including standards, interpretations, and amendments.

Click to download the Endorsement Status Report as of 9 February 2012 (PDF 200k, link to EFRAG web site).

Since the last report, draft endorsement advice(s) have been issued for IFRS 10, IFRS 11, IFRS 12, IAS 27 (2011), and IAS 28 (2011).

You can always find the endorsement status report here.

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IFRS Foundation Monitoring Board and Trustees conclude their governance and strategy reviews

09 Feb 2012

The IFRS Foundation Monitoring Board and Trustees have jointly issued their separate reviews of the governance and strategy of the IFRS Foundation.

The two reviews are independent of each other but co ordinated to display their common goal of supporting the IFRS Foundation in creating quality global accepted standards.

In the Trustees' report IFRSs as the Global Standards: Setting a Strategy for the Foundation’s Second Decade the Trustees recommended four areas that the IFRS Foundation should focus on. The four areas outlined in the report are (1) the IFRS Foundation mission, specifically the public interest served by the Foundation's work; (2) governance; (3) the process and procedures used by the Foundation and the IASB; and (4) the organisation's financing.

In the Monitoring Board's review Final Report on the Review of the IFRS Foundation's Governance the Monitoring Board primarily reviewed institutional aspects of governance. Specifically, the review focused on the composition and the respective roles and responsibilities of the Monitoring Board, Trustees and the IASB.

Click for:

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IFRS Foundation translation update

07 Feb 2012

The IFRS Foundation has announced the publication of the Arabic translation of IFRS for SMEs training Module 7 'Statement of Cash Flows'.

The Arabic translation is available on the IASB's Arabic-language training modules webpage.
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IFRS Foundation appoints David Loweth as inaugural 'Director for Trustee Activities'

06 Feb 2012

The Trustees of the IFRS Foundation have announced the appointment of David Loweth as Director for Trustee Activities.

Mr Loweth currently serves as Technical Director of the United Kingdom (UK) Accounting Standards Board (ASB). Before joining the UK ASB in 2004, Mr Loweth held various senior roles in the UK Treasury.

The Trustees have created the role of Director for Trustee Activities in response to the preliminary conclusions of their IFRS Foundation Strategy Review. The review called for higher levels of engagement and transparency between the IASB and the Trustees, particularly in the area of due process oversight. The review also recommends clearer separation of the roles and responsibilities of the Foundation and of the IASB. Mr Loweth will support the work of the Trustees as they fulfil these enhanced responsibilities.

Click for Trustees press release (link to IASB website).

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IASB to publish next edition of the 'Red Book' in March

06 Feb 2012

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has announced that the 2012 edition of the Bound Volume of International Financial Reporting Standards(the 'Red Book') is expected to be available in March.

The 'Red Book' contains all official pronouncements issued at 1 January 2012, including all pronouncements with an effective date after 1 January 2012, but not the pronouncements they will replace. Accordingly, the 2012 edition contains pronouncements such as IFRS 10 Consolidated Financial Statements, IFRS 11 Joint Arrangements, IFRS 12 Disclosure of Interests in Other Entities and IFRS 13 Fair Value Measurements, but does not contain the superseded version of IAS 27 Consolidated and Separate Financial Statements.

More information is available on the IASB's 'register my interest' webpage (link to IASB website).

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AOSSG to meet in March

06 Feb 2012

The Asian-Oceanian Standard-Setters Group (AOSSG) has announced it will hold an informal meeting co-hosted by the Malaysian Accounting Standards Board (MASB) on Sunday 25 March 2012, 2:30-5:30pm.

The meeting will be held at the Shangri-La Hotel in Kuala Lumpur and involve discussions on recent developments in active AOSSG and IASB projects with members of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). Attendees at the meeting include IASB Vice-Chairman, a number of other IASB members and senior staff, and National Standard-Setters from throughout the region.

The meeting joins numerous other standard setter meetings being held in Malaysia in March (see our earlier story).

Click for the AOSSG announcement (link to AOSSG website).

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Deloitte comment letter on IFRS for SMEs Q&As

03 Feb 2012

Deloitte's IFRS Global Office has submitted a letter of comment to the SME Implementation Group regarding Draft Q&A Section 11, Issue 1: Fallback to IFRS 9 Financial Instruments and Draft Q&A Section 30, Issue 1: Recycling of cumulative exchange differences on disposal of a subsidiary.

In the comment letter, we are concerned about the appropriateness of these draft Q&As for the following reasons:

  • both draft Q&As seek to restrict entities from adopting certain accounting policies which may be permitted, or indeed required, following the Board’s comprehensive review of the IFRS for SMEs. We do not believe that requiring a change in accounting policy which may be reversed within the next 2-3 years is useful to either preparers or users of the financial statements of SMEs; and
  • we do not consider publication of a high volume of draft Q&As (11 since February 2011) to be in keeping with the Board’s plan for periodic updating of the IFRS for SMEs. As such, we welcome the commitment made in the November 2011 IFRS for SMEs Update to issue few, if any, further Q&As before the next comprehensive review of the IFRS for SMEs.

In addition, we are concerned about the due process applied to the Q&As and whether it is consistent with other IASB or IFRS Foundation activities.

Click for our Comment Letter on IFRS for SMEs Q&As. All of our past comment letters are here.

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IPSASB publishes consultation paper on the fourth phase of its conceptual framework project for public sector entities

01 Feb 2012

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) has released for comment an Consultation Paper, 'Conceptual Framework for General Purpose Financial Reporting by Public Sector Entities: Presentation in General Purpose Financial Reports'. The paper arises from the fourth and final phase of the IPSASB's conceptual framework project.

The paper explores concepts applicable to the presentation of information in the general purpose financial reports of public sector entities and considers presentation from the broader perspective of financial reporting rather than adopting a narrow focus just on the financial statements.

Although many of the concepts of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSASs) are based on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs), the IPSASB's conceptual framework project is not an IFRS convergence project, and its purpose is not to interpret the application of the IASB Framework to the public sector.

Comments on the Consultation Paper close on 31 May 2012. Click for the IPSASB announcement (link to IFAC website).

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