The presentation will be delivered by Kristy Robinson, IASB technical principal, and Brian Singleton-Green, ICAEW financial reporting faculty. The presentation, which will include a question and answer session, will discuss the following:

• The overwhelming amount of information in financial reporting.
• Issues enforcing disclosures.
• Changes that need to occur.
• Future IASB’s plans for disclosure.

For the convenience of participants in different time zones, two slots have been scheduled:

• 09.00 (London time),
• 16.00 (London time).

Registration for the different slots is available through the ICAEW website.

The conference will feature presentations by IASB Chairman Hans Hoogervorst and IASB members (Stephen Cooper, Sue Lloyd, Patricia McConnell, and Chungwoo Suh).

Some of the topics to be covered at the conference include:

• The future of financial reporting
• IASB update:
  • Major IFRSs
  • Implementation
  • Conceptual framework
  • Research projects
• Panel discussions on IFRS disclosures and IFRS 9

The conference will also have break-out sessions featuring:

More details, including registration information, are available on the IASB website.

Among the speakers invited to the forum are IASB Chairman Hans Hoogervorst, AOSSG Chairman Clement Chan, and Tricia O’Malley, Chairperson of the IFASS.

Topics discussed will include:

• Fair valuation under IFRS - Concerns and safeguards
• Goodwill - Impairment only or with amortisation
• New approach to lease accounting
• Do IFRS ignore prudence?
• Challenges of evolving nations in convergence/adoption of IFRS
• Post-implementation review of new IFRS

Please click for more information about the forum on the ICAI website. The Forum will be telecast: http://icaitv.com/?p=5617

The first outreach event will discuss the post-implementation review of IFRS 3 Business Combinations. It will provide users of financial statements and other non-users, the chance to provide their input on the usefulness of the information resulting from the implementation of IFRS 3. Registration for this event is requested by 20 March 2014. A programme for the event is available on the EFRAG website.

Additional events on macro hedging and a high level roundtable on topical developments in financial reporting are expected in the near future.

For more information, see the press release on the EFRAG website.

The finalised standard follows a long consultation process, including the issue of a 'roadmap' to adopt a Malaysian equivalent to the IFRS for SMEs in March 2013, and the publication of revised proposals in August 2013.

The MPERS replaces the existing Malaysian Private Entity Reporting Standards (PERS), which are based on pre-2003 international accounting standards, and these older standards will be withdrawn once the MPERS becomes effective.

The MPERS applies to 'private entities', which are private companies as defined in the Malaysian Companies Act 1965 that are not required to prepare or lodge financial statements under laws administered by the Malaysian Securities Commission or Bank Negara Malaysia (the Malaysian Central Bank), and are not a subsidiary, associate, or jointly controlled by such an entity. Eligible entities have the choice of applying either the MPERS or Malaysian Financial Reporting Standards (MFRS, equivalent to IFRSs).

The key amendments made to the IFRS for SMEs in finalising the MPERS include:

• Application to private entities. As the MPERS applies to 'private entities', all references to "SMEs" and "public accountability" have been replaced or deleted to align with the scope of the MPERS.
• Consolidated financial statements. Ultimate Malaysian parents are required to prepare consolidated financial statements regardless of whether its ultimate parent company (incorporated outside of Malaysia) prepares consolidated financial statements.
• Income taxes. The requirements for income tax accounting have been aligned with the requirements of MRFS 112 Income Taxes (equivalent to IAS 12 Income Taxes). The IASB is considering making similar changes to the IFRS for SMEs as part of its exposure draft of proposed changes to the IFRS for SMEs issued in October 2013.
• Real estate. Amended guidance is included in the MPERS based on Malaysian-specific requirements in FRS 201 Property Development Activities, and information in the IFRS for SMEs derived from IFRIC 15 Agreements for the Construction of Real Estate have been deleted.

The MPERS is effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2016. Click for MASB announcement (link to MASB website).

The following webcasts are available:

• What should investors expect? — Reviews the goals, priorities, and intended outreach of the IASB Investor Education Programme.
• Off balance sheet accounting: plugging the loopholes —  Discusses off balance sheet transactions issues during the financial crisis, amendments resulting from those issues, and what investors should expect from these changes.

The IASB plans to issue additional webcasts discussing how the amendments made to joint arrangement and employee benefits may affect investors.

For more information, see the press release and the Investor Education Programme on the IASB website.

With these recent additions, the total number of countries surveyed has reached 124. Both Panama and Suriname allow IFRS to be used for all listed companies. The Taiwan profile has been updated to clarify which Standards have been endorsed by the Financial Supervisory Commission.

The profiles and analyses are available on the IASB website.

Although financial statements and other financial information are presented in accordance with applicable financial reporting frameworks which should result in relevant and reliable information, there sometimes seems to be a demand from users or a desire from issuers for other information that is intended to lead to a better understanding of a company's position and performance. This information is often included in financial statements or documents accompanying the financial statements and normally consists of either re-calculated information already provided or new metrics designed to improve the understanding of that information.

ESMA acknowledges the importance of APMs to assist users in making investment decisions and only recently even the IASB Chairman admitted in a speech that preparers and analysts "may need non-GAAP measures to fine-tune their presentation or assessment of an entity". However, ESMA is concerned about widely diverse additional financial data which in some cases cannot be easily derived from or reconciled back to financial statements. Also, this additional information is often not defined and comparatives are lacking in many cases.

ESMA has therefore developed draft guidelines that address the concept and labels of APMs, guidance for the presentation of APMs and consistency in using APMs. The key requirements of the proposed guidelines are:

1. Issuers should define the APM used and its components as well as the basis of calculation adopted.
2. APMs should be given meaningful labels reflecting their methodology and basis of calculation in order to avoid conveying misleading messages to users.
3. Issuers should disclose all APMs used and their definition in an appendix to the publication.
4. APMs should be reconciled to the most relevant amount presented in the financial statements, separately identifying and explaining each reconciling item.
5. Issuers should explain the context of any APM disclosed so that users can understand what information the APM concerned is meant to provide them with.
6. APMs that are presented outside financial statements should be displayed with less prominence, emphasis or authority than measures directly stemming from financial statements prepared in accordance with the applicable financial reporting framework.
7. When an issuer chooses to present APMs, it should also provide comparatives for corresponding previous periods. 
8. The definition and calculation of the APM should be consistent over time. If that is not the case, an issuer should explain the reasons why the definition and/or calculation of the APM has changed.
9. If an APM is redefined, a prior period is corrected, or the calculation of the APM changes, an issuer should provide additional information to explain those changes, the effect of the change compared to the former APM and restated comparative figures.
10. If an APM ceases to be used, the issuer should explain its removal and the reasons for which any newly defined APM replacing the previous one provides more reliable and relevant information on the financial performance compared with the previous one.

The closing date for responses to the ESMA consultation is 14 May 2014. ESMA expects to publish the final guidelines in the fourth quarter of 2014.

Please click for additional information on the ESMA website:

• Press release
• Proposed ESMA Guidelines on Alternative Performance Measures

IFRIC 21 was issued on 20 May 2013 and has a stated effective date of annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2014.  The updated report indicates final endorsement is currently expected in the second quarter of 2014.

The endorsement status report, dated 11 February 2014, is available here.

The CMAC, formerly called the Analyst Representative Group (ARG), consists of a number of professional financial analysts who meet at least three times a year with members of the IASB to provide the views of professional investors on financial reporting issues.

A summary of the agenda for the meeting is set out below:

Agenda papers for the meeting are available on the IASB's website.