June

IASB issues 'Investor Perspectives' on prudence

11 Jun 2015

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has released a new edition in its 'Investor Perspectives' series. In this edition, IASB member Steve Cooper discusses the concept of prudence.

On 28 May 2015, the IASB issued an exposure draft on the conceptual framework, which reintroduced an explicit reference to prudence and states that the exercise of prudence supports neutrality. Mr Cooper discussed how issues with the pre-2010 definition of prudence was created uncertainty in practice and noted that the proposed definition provides more clarity into the approach intended by the IASB.

For more in­for­ma­tion, see the June 2015 edition of the Investor Per­spec­tives newslet­ter on the IASB’s website.

European Commission releases responses to the Green Paper 'Building a Capital Markets Union'

11 Jun 2015

In February 2015 the European Commission (EC) launched a public consultation as part of its project to boost growth in the EU with the creation of a single market for capital and break down the barriers that are blocking cross-border investments in the EU and preventing businesses from getting access to finance.

One of the questions (Question eight) had been whether there is value in developing a common EU level accounting standard for small and medium-sized entities (SMEs). From the responses made available, three options seem to emerge:

  • an IFRS-based solution, perhaps with simplification in presentation and disclosure;
  • using the IFRS for SMEs as a basis for an EU solution;
  • not making any changes as member states already have the option to permit the use of IFRSs for their SMEs.

Generally, a freestanding EU solution found little support.

In its response to the consultation, the IFRS Foundation had emphasised its willingness to work with the EC in considering the financial reporting implications of the CMU.

Please click to access all responses on the EC website (scroll to the right for responses to question eight). A summary of responses will be published at a later stage along with an action plan in September 2015.

FASB and ASBJ hold biannual meeting

10 Jun 2015

On June 8–9, 2015, the FASB met with the Accounting Standards Board of Japan (ASBJ) in Norwalk, Connecticut. The meeting is the 18th in a series of biannual meetings the two standard setters hold to further their “cooperative efforts to develop high-quality global accounting standards.”

In addition to giving updates on their re­spec­tive stan­dard-set­ting ac­tiv­i­ties at the meeting, the two boards exchanged views on tech­ni­cal topics in which they both have an interest, including the conceptual framework, the disclosure framework, and revenue recognition.

The next meeting between the FASB and ASBJ is expected to be held in the first half of 2016 in Tokyo, Japan. For more information about the June meeting, see the press release on the FASB’s Web site.

We comment on the proposed amendments to IAS 1

10 Jun 2015

We have published our comment letter on the International Accounting Standards Board's (IASB) Exposure Draft ED/2015/1 'Classification of Liabilities'.

The proposed amendments aim at a more general approach to the classification of liabilities under IAS 1 based on the contractual arrangements in place at the reporting date. In our comment letter, we welcome the Board's initiative in addressing an area of accounting that often presents issues in practice. However, we believe that the amendments only address a limited number of issues that arise in this context. Therefore, we believe that the Board should consider this issue more fully as part of the Disclosure initiative.

Click to access the full comment letter.

IFRS Foundation publishes updated progress report on global use of IFRSs

09 Jun 2015

The IFRS Foundation has issued an updated version of “Financial Reporting Standards for the World Economy,” which details the progress made toward global use of IFRSs, including IFRS profiles for 140 jurisdictions around the world (i.e., analyses related to whether IFRSs are required or permitted in those jurisdictions).

The publication’s observations regarding use of IFRSs in those jurisdictions include the following:

  • There is general support for global accounting standards as well as for the use of IFRSs as the global standard.
  • IFRSs are required for domestic listed companies in 116 jurisdictions, with 60 percent of those jurisdictions requiring IFRSs for unlisted financial institutions and 90 percent permitting IFRSs for unlisted companies.
  • Most of the 24 remaining jurisdictions do not require IFRSs but do permit their use to some degree.
  • Modifications to IFRSs are rare.
  • The auditor’s report refers to compliance with IFRSs in most jurisdictions.
  • An endorsement process is not performed for 67 percent of 107 jurisdictions (excluding the 33 countries of the EU, the EEA, and EU candidates).
  • Adoption of the IFRS for SMEs is permitted or required in 73 of the 140 jurisdictions.

For more information, see the progress report on the IASB’s Web site.

Chief Accountant of the SEC believes former SEC Chairman's call for burying IFRS was 'premature'

08 Jun 2015

At a financial reporting conference in California, Jim Schnurr, Chief Accountant of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) confirmed that the SEC does not intend to bury the objective of a single set of high-quality, globally accepted accounting standards.

As in a speech given last month at Baruch college, Mr Schnurr stated that his research to date has revealed that there is virtually no support to have the SEC mandate IFRS for all registrants, that there is little support for the SEC to provide an option allowing domestic companies to prepare their financial statements under IFRS, but that there is continued support for the objective of a single set of high-quality, globally accepted accounting standards. He therefore questioned former SEC Chairman Christopher Cox' comments at the same conference last year who had stated: "I come to bury IFRS, not to praise them". Given the continued support for convergence, Mr Schnurr commented that the real questions are: what is the path to achieve that objective and how do we get there? He opined:

In my opinion, in the near term, FASB and IASB should continue to focus on converging the standards. The boards should renew their commitment to cooperate and develop standards that eliminate differences between IFRS and U.S. GAAP whenever it meets the needs of its constituents and improves the quality of financial reporting. I recognize the boards will not always be able to eliminate differences during the standard-setting process, primarily because they serve different constituents that have different needs. However, when differences in standards arise, the boards should monitor the implementation of those standards with the objective of learning from the implementation and re-engaging with each other with the goal of converging to the standard with the highest quality financial reporting outcome.

Mr Schnurr also commented on revenue recognition and the new converged standards published in May 2014 and the work of the joint revenue transition resource group (TRG) which has led to proposed amendments to the FASB guidance in May and will see proposed IASB amendments in the third quarter of 2015.

The boards should apply the lessons learned from the recent revenue recognition standard and realize that even though the words may be the same, to achieve convergence, cooperation is needed after the standard-setting process is complete and during the implementation stage of the standards. [...] While the FASB and IASB approach to clarifying the guidance differs slightly, both boards, as evidenced by their discussions during their joint meeting, continue to believe they have a converged approach.

Please click to access the full text of Mr Schnurr's speech on the SEC website. All conference materials are available on the conference website.

Agenda for June 2015 joint CMAC-GPF meeting

05 Jun 2015

Representatives from the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) will meet with both the Capital Markets Advisory Council (CMAC) and Global Preparers Forum (GPF) in London on Thursday, 11 June and Friday, 12 June 2015. The agenda for the joint meeting has been released.

The full agenda for the meeting (as of 4 June 2015) is summarised below:

Thursday, 11 June 2015 (15:00-17:30)

  • IASB update
  • Conceptual Framework - presentation and breakout sessions

Friday, 12 June 2015 (09:00-16:45)

  • Provisions and contingent liabilities - presentation and breakout sessions
  • Pollutant pricing mechanisms - presentation and breakout sessions
  • Disclosure initiative - presentation and breakout sessions
  • IFRS Interpretations Committee update and discussion

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

May 2015 IASB meeting notes posted — part 2 (concluded)

03 Jun 2015

The IASB met at its offices in London on 18–20 May 2015. We have posted the Deloitte observer notes from the education session on rate-regulated activities and the sessions on revenue recognition, IFRS implementation issues, financial instruments with characteristics of equity, IFRS 2 research project, rate-regulated activities, dynamic risk management, and disclosure initiative.

Click through for direct access to the notes:

Monday, 18 May 2015

Tuesday, 19 May 2015

Wednesday, 20 May 2015

You can also access the pre­lim­i­nary and un­of­fi­cial notes taken by De­loitte ob­servers for the entire meeting.

IFRS Foundation issues taxonomy guide for regulators

03 Jun 2015

The IFRS Foundation has issued a guide, “Using the IFRS Taxonomy — a Regulator’s Guide,” to help market regulators and other organisations adopt and use the IFRS taxonomy within an electronic filing system.

The guide provides details on:

  1. How to get started.
  2. IFRS taxonomy ar­chi­tec­ture.
  3. Ar­chi­tec­ture options for using the IFRS taxonomy in a filing system.
  4. Best practices/rec­om­men­da­tions.

For more information, see the press release and the guide on the IASB’s website.

Canada joins the IAS Plus family — Le Canada se joint à la famille IAS Plus

03 Jun 2015

We are proud to announce two new subsites of IAS Plus, Centre for Financial Reporting and Centre de l’information financière, which build on our successful and long-established IAS Plus site to provide users in Canada with comprehensive tailored news and resources. — C’est avec plaisir que nous annonçons la mise en ligne de deux nouveaux sous-sites d’IAS Plus, le Centre de l’information financière et le Centre for Financial Reporting, qui s’articulent autour de notre populaire site IAS Plus établi de longue date. Ces deux nouveaux sous-sites visent à fournir aux utilisateurs canadiens des nouvelles et des ressources personnalisées et complètes.

You will find on the new sites:

  • breaking news on financial reporting that matter to all Canadian organisations, summaries, analysis and resources of standards of all financial reporting frameworks used in Canada
  • a publications library that features electronic newsletters and technical updates webcasts
  • relevant tools to help you apply new or complex standards
  • ability to connect with experts to discuss your specific issues

 Access to the new sites in English and French is free of charge for all users. You can easily switch between the global site and the Canadian sites using the pull-down menu showing in the upper right corner of the site.

Vous trouverez dans ces nouveaux sites:

  • les dernières nouvelles sur l’information financière qui concernent toutes les organisations canadiennes ainsi que des résumés, des analyses et des ressources sur les normes contenues dans tous les référentiels d’information financière utilisés au Canada;
  • un répertoire de publications, qui contient les bulletins électroniques et les webémissions sur les mises à jour techniques;
  • des outils utiles pour vous aider à appliquer les nouvelles normes ou celles qui sont complexes;
  • un accès direct à des spécialistes pour répondre à vos questions.

Tous les utilisateurs peuvent consulter gratuitement ces nouveaux sites en français et en anglais. Vous pouvez passer facilement du site mondial aux sites canadiens grâce au menu déroulant qui se trouve dans le coin supérieur droit du site.

With the addition of the two new sites, the IAS Plus family now consists of six sites:

  • IAS Plus Global site (www.iasplus.com) – a comprehensive resource on IFRS and global financial reporting, including the worldwide use and adoption of IFRS, other reporting frameworks, global reporting issues and more
  • IAS Plus in German (www.iasplus.de) – the content available on the IAS Plus Global site in German translation, plus information on financial reporting developments in Germany, Austria and Switzerland
  • Centre for Financial Reporting (http://www.cfr.deloitte.ca) – dedicated resource for Canada in English
  • Centre de l’information financière (http://www.cif.deloitte.ca) – dedicated resource for Canada in French
  • UK Accounting Plus (www.ukaccountingplus.com) – dedicated resource for the United Kingdom
  • US GAAP Plus (www.usgaapplus.com) – dedicated resource for the United States

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