IFRS Foundation Trustees hold October 2015 meeting

  • IFRS Trustees meeting (blue) Image

26 Oct 2015

The IFRS Foundation Trustees met in Beijing on 14–15 October 2015.

Meeting activities included the following:

  • Executive session— The Trustees discussed a number of important strategic issues:
    • Meeting with the Chinese Assistant Minister of Finance — Prior to the Trustees' meeting there had been a meeting with the Chinese Assistant Minister of Finance which discussed convergence and support for the IFRS Foundation and its work. The meeting was described as having been very encouraging.
    • Strategic overview — The Trustees discussed a proposed framework and suggested success metrics for measuring the Foundation’s performance against its strategic goals. The Trustees commended the staff for its efforts but noted that the proposals focused on seeking to develop measures of the organisation’s effectiveness. The Trustees stressed the need to also look at measures of the organisation’s efficiency, as well as looking at the resources and inputs available to the Foundation.
    • Funding — The Trustees noted that several new jurisdictions have started to fund the Foundation and that several other jurisdictions have increased their contributions. However, there are still jurisdictions that fund below the contribution that might be expected for the size of the economy or that do not fund the Foundation at all. The Trustees also acknowledged and appreciated the efforts that had been made to increase the organisation’s reserves towards the target of a full year’s expense level over the next few years.
    • Communications strategy — The Trustees discussed how the Foundation might better align its communications and stakeholder engagement activities with its strategic goals.
    • International developments — The Trustees were encouraged by the increased voluntary adoption of IFRS in Japan, noted the overall positive outcome of the European Commission’s review of the IAS Regulation and the positive EFRAG endorsement advice on IFRS 9, and discussed the on-going situation with regard to the USA.
  • IASB Chairman’s report — The Vice-Chair of the IASB provide the Trustees with an update on a number of the IASB’s technical activities, on behalf of the Chair.
    • Major projects — On insurance contracts, the IASB expects to finish redeliberations until the end of 2015, with the standard itself expected in 2016. The extension of the original timetable means that the mandatory effective date for the standard would be later than that for IFRS 9. Given stakeholders concerns about the implications of this the IASB plans to propose two approaches (the overlay approach and the deferral approach) later in 2015. On leases, the forthcoming standard is currently being drafted and is expected to be published before the end of 2015.
    • Engagement strategy — The IASB's Investors in Financial Reporting programme has received positive reactions, with support from the investment community and others, and will be reviewed at the end of 2015.
    • Use of IFRS globally and consistency of application — The Trustees noted the state of IFRS adoption around the world as evidenced in the IFRS Foundation's jurisdiction profiles. On consistent application, the Trustees were informed of the progress of the work of the transition resource groups on revenue recognition and the impairment of financial instruments. The Trustees were reminded that it is not the IASB’s intention to always establish a transition resource group when a standard is published. Rather, this would be considered on a case-by-case basis.
  • Report of the Due Process Oversight Committee (DPOC) — The Trustees received a report about the DPOC’s October 2015 meeting. For more information, see our related news item.
  • Stakeholder event — The IFRS Foundation hosted an event 'IFRS and China: Ever-changing Challenges and Opportunities' which saw several speeches and a panel discussion.

The full report on the IFRS Foundation trustees’ meeting is available on the IASB’s website.

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