October

We comment on proposed amendments to IFRS 3 and IFRS 11

31 Oct 2016

We have responded to the IASB's Exposure Draft, "Definition of a Business and Accounting for Previously Held Interests (Proposed amendments to IFRS 3 and IFRS 11)," issued by the IASB in June 2016.

As stated in the comment letter, we welcome the Board’s ini­tia­tive to ad­dress­ing the issue and support the introduction of a ‘concentration test; however, we believe for it to be operational, applying the idea of ‘similar identifiable assets’ is needed. In addition, we recommend that the Board should (1) seek to minimise or eliminate the accounting differences between business combinations and asset purchases and (2) consider taking a broader approach to the amendments to IFRS 3 and IFRS 11 on obtaining control, or joint control, of a joint operation that constitutes a business.

Please click to access the full comment letter.

Pre-meeting summaries for the November 2016 IFRS Interpretations Committee meeting

31 Oct 2016

The IFRS Interpretations Committee will meet at the IASB's offices in London on 8 November 2016. We have now posted our popular pre-meeting summaries for the meeting that allow you to follow the Committee's decision making more closely.

On-going discussions

Interpretation

  • Uncertainty over Income Tax Treatments – Due Process (Agenda paper 4)
    The staff are seeking clearance to start the process to finalise the Interpretation, which will have an effective date of 1 January 2019.

Finalisation of draft agenda decisions

The IC will consider the public feedback on two matters which the IC tentatively decided not to add to its agenda:

  • IAS 12 Income Taxes: Expected manner of recovery of intangible assets with indefinite useful lives (Agenda Paper 3); and
  • IAS 32 Financial Instruments: Presentation - Written put option over NCI (Agenda Paper 9)

The staff are recommending that the IC finalise both decisions, and not add the matters to its agenda.

Tentative decisions

  • IFRS 9 Financial Instruments and IAS 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement – Fees and costs included in the ’10 per cent’ test for the purposes of derecognition (Agenda Paper 2)
    The Staff recommends proposing an annual improvement rather than addressing the matter through an agenda decision.
  • IAS 28 Investments in Associates and Joint Ventures - Assessment of significant influence: Fund manager acting as an agent and holding own investments in the fund (Agenda Pape 11)
    The Staff recommends that the IC not add this issue to its agenda for the reasons set out above and to issue a tentative agenda decision to that effect.

New issues

The IC will discuss five new issues:

  • Commodities - Commodity loans (Agenda paper 10)
  • IFRS 10 Consolidated Financial Statements - Investment Entities—Consolidation of subsidiaries – (Agenda paper 5)
  • IFRS 9 Financial Instruments – modifications /exchanges of financial liabilities that do not result in derecognition (Agenda Paper 6). This paper was included in the September agenda but was not discussed for lack of time.
  • IFRS 9 Financial Instruments — Impact of symmetric ‘make whole’ and fair value prepayment options on the assessment of the SPPI condition (Agenda paper 7)
  • IFRS 9 Financial instruments/IFRS 5 Non-current Assets Held for Sale and Discontinued Operations – discontinuation of hedge accounting and business model assessment when a subsidiary is held for sale. (Agenda paper 8)

For the first three matters the staff are recommending that the matters not be taken onto the agenda. For the remaining two issues the staff have provided their initial analysis and are seeking feedback from the IC. Both matters will also be discussed with the IASB.

Post-implementation review of IFRS 13 Fair Value Measurement

The IC will be asked for initial input on areas the review should cover. (Agenda Paper 12)

The pre-meet­ing summaries for the meeting can be found here. We will update this page for our Deloitte observer notes from the meeting as they become available.

AcSB and IASB panel discussion on IFRS 15

31 Oct 2016

On 14 October 2016 the Canadian Accounting Standards Board (AcSB) hosted a panel discussion on implementing IFRS 15 'Revenue from Contracts with Customers'. A video recording of that panel discussion as well as the slides presented are now available.

The panel was chaired by IASB member Gary Kabureck. Panelists were Karen Higgins (Vice-Chair of the AcSB and Partner at Deloitte), Karyn Brooks (Retired Senior Vice President and Controller at Bell Canada and member of the Transition Resource Group for Revenue Recognition), Cameron McInnis (Chief Accountant at the Ontario Securities Commission), and Allison McManus (Partner at KPMG and former IASB staff). After a short overview of the situation in Canada, panelists discussed in depth IFRS 15 implementation issues and project management including external communications.

The video recording (two hours and 15 minutes) is available on YouTube. The slides can be downloaded from the AcSB website.

European Union formally adopts IFRS 15

31 Oct 2016

The European Union has published a Commission Regulation endorsing IFRS 15 'Revenue from Contracts with Customers'. IFRS 15 specifies how and when an IFRS reporter will recognise revenue as well as requiring such entities to provide users of financial statements with more informative, relevant disclosures. The standard provides a single, principles based five-step model to be applied to all contracts with customers.

Commission Regulation (EC) No 2016/1905 of 22 September 2016 amending Regulation (EC) No 1126/2008 adopting certain international accounting standards in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1606/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council published in the Official Journal on 29 October 2016 adopts IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers issued by the IASB in May 2014. The EU effective date is the same as the IASB's revised effective date (annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2018 with earlier appication permitted).

As a result of the EU's adoption, the EFRAG has updated its endorsement status report.

Agenda for the November 2016 Emerging Economies Group meeting

28 Oct 2016

The agenda is available for the 12th meeting of the IASB's Emerging Economies Group (EEG), which is being held in Johannesburg on 3-4 November 2016.

The agenda for the meeting that will be chaired by IASB member Darrel Scott is sum­marised below:

Thursday 3 November 2016 (09:00-16:30)

  • Address by hosting country (South Africa)
  • Address by IASB
  • Pre­sen­ta­tions on IAS 37 issues
  • Dis­cus­sion: IAS 37 issues
  • Ad­min­is­tra­tive issues (topics for future meetings)

Friday 4 November 2016 (09:00-12:30)

  • Presentation and discussion: Post-implementation review of IFRS 13
  • IASB updates
  • Financial statements of subsidiaries
  • Dis­cus­sion and approval of the communiqué
  • Meeting summary

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

ESMA announces enforcement priorities for 2016 financial statements

28 Oct 2016

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has announced the priority issues that the assessment of listed companies' 2016 financial statements will focus on.

ESMA considers the following key topics to be especially relevant for the examinations of listed companies' financial statements:

  • presentation of financial performance;
  • financial instruments: distinction between equity instruments and financial liabilities; and
  • disclosures of the impact of the new standards on IFRS financial statements.

In addition, taking into consideration the relevance of Brexit for some issuers in Europe, ESMA urges issuers potentially affected by the result of the UK’s referendum to leave the EU to assess and disclose the associated risks and expected impacts it may have on their business activities. ESMA expects that more information about the impact will become available as the date of Brexit approaches.

ESMA and European national enforcers will monitor and supervise the application of the IFRS requirements outlined in the priorities, with national authorities incorporating them into their reviews and taking corrective actions where appropriate. ESMA will collect data on how European listed entities have applied the priorities and will publish its findings in a separate report.

Please click for the following documents on the ESMA website:

AASB research report concludes that IFRS adoption has benefited the Australian economy

27 Oct 2016

As part of a larger IFRS review project, the Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) has published Research Report No. 3 'The impact of IFRS adoption in Australia: Evidence from academic research'. After more than ten years of application of IFRSs in Australia, the AASB is looking into whether IFRS has improved the quality of financial reporting in Australia und whether it has improved comparability of Australian entities’ financial reporting with their global peers.

The third research report draws from 35 high-quality published empirical studies and looks the impact of IFRS adoption on publicly-listed Australian companies and other capital market participants. The key findings cited in the report are:

  • IFRS adoption by Australian companies appears to have had a positive outcome for investors and analysts based on research revealing improved analyst following, and analyst forecast accuracy.
  • Some studies reported positive outcomes through improvements in the value relevance of financial reports post-IFRS adoption, and reductions in the number of firms engaging in earnings management.
  • Most studies reported positive results in terms of the promotion of the comparability of Australian entities’ financial reporting practices with their global peers.
  • Survey research around the time of IFRS adoption revealed a degree of pessimism among managers from listed Australian companies towards many of the possible benefits from accounting convergence.

Based on these findings, the report concludes that (i) the FRC directive regarding adoption of IFRS in Australia continues to be appropriate; (ii) most of the research findings generally support the view that IFRS adoption has benefited the Australian economy; and (iii) there is no significant evidence suggesting reconsideration of adopting IFRS is warranted.

Please click to access the press release and the research report on the AASB website.

Agenda for the November 2016 IFRS Interpretations Committee meeting

27 Oct 2016

The IFRS Interpretations Committee will meet at the IASB's offices in London on 8 November. The agenda for the meeting is now available.

The IFRS Interpretations Committee will continue its discussions on an issue regarding IFRS 9/IAS 39, deliberate comment letters received on an issue regarding IAS 12, finalise agenda decisions on IAS 12 and IAS 32, consider new issues on IFRS 10, IFRS 9 (two issues), IFRS 5/IFRS 9/IAS 39 and commodity loans (an issue not falling into any particular standard), consider an issue on hold regarding IAS 28; and discuss the PIR of IFRS 13.

The full agenda for the meeting can be found here. We will update this page for any changes to the agenda and our Deloitte pre-meeting summaries and observer notes from the meeting as they become available.

Agenda for November 2016 CMAC meeting

26 Oct 2016

Representatives from the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) will meet with the Capital Markets Advisory Council (CMAC) in London on 3 November 2016. The agenda for the meeting has been released.

The full agenda for the meeting is sum­marised below:

Thursday, 3 November 2016 (09:00-16:30)

  • IASB update
  • Accounting options
  • Post-implementation review of IFRS 13 Fair Value Measurement
  • Digital reporting
  • Primary financial statements

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

IFRS Foundation Trustees seek IASB Board members

26 Oct 2016

The IFRS Foundation Trustees are seeking to appoint up to seven Board Members in July 2017.

IASB members are appointed for an initial five-year term with the possibility of being reappointed for another three years (in exceptional circumstances for another five years). Nominations for IASB board membership close on 25 November 2016. For more information, see the press release and the IASB members application page on the IASB’s website.

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