April

US FASB tentatively decides to defer the new revenue standard

01 Apr 2015

At its meeting today, the US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) tentatively decided to defer for one year the effective date of the new revenue standard (ASU 2014-09 'Revenue From Contracts With Customers') for public and nonpublic entities reporting under US GAAP.

The Board also tentatively decided to permit entities to early adopt the standard. The tentative decisions will be exposed in an upcoming proposed Accounting Standards Update (ASU) with a 30-day comment period.

It is currently unclear whether the IASB will defer the effective date of IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers; the IASB plans to discuss this issue later in April.

For more information, see Deloitte (United States) related Heads Up newsletter and the tentative board decisions on the FASB's website.

We comment on the proposed amendments to IAS 7

01 Apr 2015

We have published our comment letter on the International Accounting Standards Board's (IASB) Exposure Draft ED/2014/6 'Disclosure Initiative (proposed amendments to IAS 7)'.

The IASB's proposed amendments aim at clarifying IAS 7 to improve information provided to users of financial statements about an entity's financing activities and liquidity. In our comment letter, we support the Board's Disclosure Initiative, but believe that it is premature to make additional disclosure requirements of the sort proposed in the ED ahead of discussions on the Principles of Disclosure element of that project.

Click to access the full comment letter.

IPSASB finalises proposals on reporting service performance information

01 Apr 2015

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) has published Recommended Practice Guideline 3 (RPG 3) that provides guidance on the reporting of service performance information. The RPG is designed to allow public sector entities to be held accountable through the provision of high quality service performance information, by providing guidance on how such information should be presented, and its recommended characteristics.

RPG 3 follows an exposure draft published in 2013 and an earlier consultation paper released in 2011. It responds to the perceived need for a principles-based and consistent framework for service performance information that focuses on user needs. The press release states:

Service provision is the primary function of the vast majority of public sector entities. Service performance information is essential for users to evaluate the services provided and public sector entities' efficient and effective use of resources to deliver those services. RPG 3 provides guidance to support the quality of service performance information already reported by entities and offers a useful framework for entities that have not yet started to report service performance information.

The guidance in RPG 3 Reporting Service Performance Information aligns with the IPSASB's view that public sector financial reporting has a greater scope than financial statements alone. Therefore, it:

  • provides principles applicable to the presentation of service performance information and definitions that establish a standardised service performance information terminology;
  • addresses the reporting entity and reporting period for service performance information;
  • provides guidance on the choice of performance indicators that show an entity's achievements with respect to its service performance objectives, disclosures about the basis of the reported information, and service performance-related narrative discussion and analysis; and
  • states that service performance information may be presented either in the same report as the financial statements or in a separate report, and identifies factors to consider when making that decision.

RPGs are considered 'good practice', are not mandatory, and do not need to be applied in order for a public sector entity to comply with International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS).

Please click for the following additional information on the IPSASB website:

Correction list for hyphenation

These words serve as exceptions. Once entered, they are only hyphenated at the specified hyphenation points. Each word should be on a separate line.