2016

IASB updates work plan

16 Dec 2016

Following its December 2016 meeting, the IASB has updated its work plan. In particular, the IASB has split its project on materiality into two parts to reflect mandatory guidance (definition of materiality) and non-mandatory guidance (materiality practice statement).

Research projects

Standard setting and related projects

  • Disclosure initiative: materiality (split into two parts):
    • Materiality practice statement — current activity has changed from analysis to drafting.
    • Definition of materiality — currently in the drafting phase with an exposure draft expected within six months.
  • Insurance contracts — expected issuance of the IFRS is expected within three months (March 2017).

Nar­row-scope amend­ments and IFRIC In­ter­pre­ta­tions

IFRS Taxonomy

The revised IASB work plan is available on the IASB's website.

New EFRAG Vice President

16 Dec 2016

The General Assembly of the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has appointed Andreas Barckow, President of the Accounting Standards Committee of Germany (ASCG), as Vice President of the EFRAG Board.

The main tasks of the Vice President are to chair the technical and public sessions of the monthly Board meetings and to step in for the President in his absence.

Professor Barckow is a former Deloitte partner who gave up his position as Head of Deloitte's IFRS Centre of Excellence in Frankfurt two years ago to become President of the ASCG.

Please click for the English language press release on the ASCG website.

IOSCO statement on the implementation of new accounting standards

16 Dec 2016

The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) has published a statement asking companies to disclose the likely effects of the new standards on revenue, financial instruments, and leases as these are expected to significantly affect the financial statements of many issuers globally, given the breadth of their applicability.

The statement highlights the importance of the implementation process by issuers and their audit committees, and the full, accurate, and timely disclosures of the possible impacts of adopting the new standards. The statement also provides a series of matters for issuers, as well as their audit committees and auditors, to consider as issuers adopt the new standards and auditors perform related audit procedures. IOSCO considers the accuracy, integrity, and comparability of issuer disclosure to be essential for maintaining investor confidence and therefore facilitating a stable international financial system.

Please click to access the statement on the IOSCO website.

Recent sustainability and integrated reporting developments

16 Dec 2016

A summary of recent developments at the CDSB, WBCSD, GRI, GSSB, IIRC, and IPSASB.

The Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB) has released a fact sheet that offers guidance to the consultation paper with recommendations for effective disclosure of climate-related financial risks released by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) set up by the Financial Stability Board (FSB). It helps navigate the over 200 pages of the report by asking 20 questions ranging from "What materials has the TCFD issued?" to "What happens next?". Click to access the helpful guidance on the CDSB website.

Also from the CDSB in collaboration with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) is a new is an online platform of expert-verified information covering sustainability reporting requirements and resources across 30 different countries. So far, only a beta version is available. Click to check out the new Reporting Exchange website.

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has released a study Shining a light on human rights: corporate human rights performance disclosure in the mining, energy and financial sectors. The study finds that the current state of reporting on human rights impacts in the mining, energy and financial sectors could be improved, but encouragingly, there are signs of progress. Please click to access the report on the GRI website.

Also from GRI is the 2017-2019 work programme of the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB). The first two standards scheduled for review are GRI 303 Water and GRI 403 Occupational Health and Safety. The full work plan is available on the GRI website.

The International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) has released 2016 Value of Value: Board-Level Insights. The regular global survey finds that business leaders believe that investors want future perspective and that adopting integrated reporting would help deliver success to their organisations.However, the survey also suggests that executives lack the management and reporting information to understand and interpret the future drivers of their business. Please click to access the full report on the IIRC website.

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) has released a background paper by its staff that provides information on Emissions Trading Schemes (ETSs) and other government interventions that reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, including different types of government interventions and their economic impacts. The paper also touches on accounting questions in this context. The background paper can be accessed on the IPSASB website.

FEE becomes Accountancy Europe

16 Dec 2016

In connection with its 30th anniversary, the Federation of European Accountants (Fédération des Experts-comptables Européens, FEE) has changed its name to Accountancy Europe. The event celebrating the anniversary also saw the introduction of a new President of the organisation.

Accountancy Europe has dedicated a subsection of its new web presence to the event. It features among other points:

  • A report on the anniversary event;
  • A key note speach by Herman van Rompuy, former President of the European Council; and
  • Speeches by outgoing President Petr Kriz and incoming President Edelfried Schneider.

December 2016 IASB meeting notes posted

15 Dec 2016

The IASB met at its offices in London on 13–14 December 2016. We have posted our comprehensive Deloitte observer notes for all projects discussed during the meeting.

Tuesday 13 December

The last meeting for 2016 started with a brief oral update on IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers. The update focused on the most recent TRG meeting held by the FASB.

Two implementation issues were discussed. The Board supported a proposal to amend IAS 19 Employee Benefits and IFRIC 14 IAS 19—The Limit on a Defined Benefit Asset, Minimum Funding Requirements and their Interaction. There are still some minor issues to address, which will be raised with the IFRS Interpretations Committee. The Board also decided to develop a narrow scope amendment to IFRS 9 Financial Instruments in relation to prepayment options and the assessment of the SPPI condition.

The Financial Instruments with the Characteristics of Equity Project discussion was on derivatives on ‘own equity’. The paper included an assessment of how the model being proposed would be affected by seven variables. However, the discussion focused mainly on foreign currency rights issues, for which the Board requested further analysis.

The Rate Regulated Activities project returned to the Board for its first substantive discussion since July 2015 for an education session. The Board was generally positive about the approach. The Board was not asked to make any technical decisions.

The Board was briefed on the upcoming release of the IFRS Taxonomy Update for the 2015/2016 common practice project, which focuses on agriculture, leisure, franchises, retail, and financial institutions.

Wednesday 14 December

The Wednesday sessions began with a session on the Conceptual Framework. They discussed papers on Measurement—redrafting the factors to consider in selecting a measurement basis; Business activities and long-term investment; Concepts of capital and capital maintenance; and Derecognition. The Board agreed with most of the staff recommendations.

The Board discussed its project on the Primary Financial Statements, focusing on the scope of the planned discussion paper. The staff proposed a narrow scope project, with targeted improvements. The main focus will be on the Statement of Comprehensive Income, with some possible changes to the Statement of Cash Flows. The staff have also been examining developing templates for a small number of industries. The Board supported taking a targeted approach, but will leave open the possibility of making consequential changes to the statement of financial position. A significant portion of the discussion focused on the importance of getting the disaggregation principle to work properly. The Board also wants to examine ways to bring more attention to OCI. There was very little support for developing templates.

The Disclosure Initiative had two topics—materiality and disclosures about restrictions on cash and cash equivalents.

The Board concluded its discussions on the materiality practice statement and the staff will start preparing the final document. The Board also decided to develop a separate exposure draft to amend the definition of materiality in IAS 1 Presentation of Financial Statements. Previously the Board had decided to wait until they had received feedback on the Principles of Disclosure discussion paper.

For disclosures about restrictions on cash and cash equivalents, the Board decided, by a narrow margin and after some debate, to support the staff recommendation not to proceed with the proposed amendments to IAS 7 Statement of Cash Flows that were exposed in 2014.

More information

Please click to access the detailed notes taken by Deloitte observers for the entire meeting.

IFRS Foundation publishes proposal related to IFRS Taxonomy 2016

15 Dec 2016

The IFRS Foundation has published 'Proposed Update to the IFRS Taxonomy 2016 - Common Practice' for public comment.

The taxonomy updates contain additional taxonomy concepts that reflect new IFRSs and improvements to IFRSs, technical updates, and corrections. This update includes taxonomy elements for entities in agriculture, leisure, franchises, and retail.

Comments on the proposed update to the IFRS taxonomy are due by 15 February 2017. For more information, see the press release on the IASB’s website.

TCFD launches consultation on climate-related financial disclosures

15 Dec 2016

The Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) set up by the Financial Stability Board (FSB) to develop voluntary, consistent climate-related financial risk disclosures for use by companies in providing information to lenders, insurers, investors and other stakeholders has published a consultation paper with recommendations for effective disclosure of climate-related financial risks.

The consultation document notes that one of the essential functions of financial markets is to price risk to support informed, efficient capital-allocation decisions and maintains that:

One of the most significant, and perhaps most misunderstood, risks that organizations face today relates to climate change. [...] Many organizations incorrectly perceive the implications of climate change to be long term and, therefore, not necessarily relevant to decisions made today.

The TCFD has developed four widely adoptable recommendations on climate-related financial disclosures that are applicable to organisations across sectors and jurisdictions:

  • Governance: Disclosure of the organisation’s governance around climate-related risks and opportunities
  • Strategy: Disclosure of the actual and potential impacts of climate-related risks and opportunities on the organisation’s businesses, strategy, and financial planning
  • Risk management: Disclosure of how the organisation identifies, assesses, and manages climate-related risks
  • Metrics and targets: Disclosure of the metrics and targets used to assess and manage relevant climate-related risks and opportunities

The TCFD recommends that preparers of climate-related financial disclosures provide such disclosures in their mainstream reports. The TCFD also recommends the disclosure of potential impacts of climate-related risks and opportunities under different potential scenarios, including a 2° Celsius scenario.

The draft recommendations are available on TCFD website and are open for public consultation over the next 60 days.

2017 IFRS 'Blue Book' now available

14 Dec 2016

The IFRS Foundation has published '2017 IFRS Standards — Consolidated without early application' (the 'Blue Book').

This volume contains all official pronouncements that are mandatory on 1 January 2017. It does not include IFRSs with an effective date after 1 January 2017.

The following are the main changes made since 1 January 2016:

The Blue Book is available online now for subscribers to eIFRS Professional. The printed book will be available for sale in January 2017 through the IASB's web shop for £75 plus shipping (academic, developing country, and volume discounts apply).

IASB publishes editorial corrections

14 Dec 2016

The IASB has published a batch of editorial corrections that retract a previous correction and impact consequential amendments and stand-alone standards.

The retraction of a previous correction regards an editorial correction to IFRS 9 Financial Instruments published in July 2014.

The editorial corrections regarding consequential amendments affect

  • IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers.

The editorial corrections stand-alone standards affect:

Editorial corrections do not change the meaning or application of pronouncements, but instead correct inadvertent errors. The editorial corrections can be viewed on the editorial corrections page of the IASB's 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.