Mr Scott has been an academic in the field of accounting at various universities in Canada since the late 1970s. Most recently, he acted as a Director and Professor of Accounting at the School of Accounting and Finance, University of Waterloo, Canada. He also served as a member of the Canadian Accounting Standards Board from 2003 to 2011.

Please click for the announcement on the IASB's website.

While IFAC had originally maintained that there are a range of different organisational reporting frameworks and that it was important to examine the relationship between these frameworks, this position has now been modified and IFAC puts the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) and the implementation of its Framework first claiming that integrated reporting is the key to enhanced organisational reporting. The paper states:

[T]he integrated report can be used as an “umbrella” report for an organization’s broad suite of reports and communications, enabling greater interconnectedness between different reports and recognizing that there is a range of different frameworks and regulations available, and under development.

The updated version of the paper also includes a new section that describes integrated reporting in more detail.

Please click for the following information on the IFAC website:

• IFAC press release
• Enhancing Organizational Reporting: Integrated Reporting Key - two page overview
• Enhancing Organizational Reporting: Integrated Reporting Key - full Policy Position Paper

The UK Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has now responded to the Foundation’s call for tenders on relocation services and states that the UK is the most powerful centre of accounting expertise outside the US that offers the IFRS Foundation unique access to IFRS knowledge and experience. Therefore, the FRC concludes:

A move overseas for the IFRS Foundation would be counter-productive. It is logical for the Foundation to remain in the UK.

Please click to access the press release on the FRC website.

The new webinar covers:

• The need for change and the history of the project
• Level of aggregation
• Applying the Standard for the first time

Please click to access the update as well as all previous webinars on the IASB website.

The first meeting for 2017 has a light agenda, with the IASB scheduled to meet in public only on Wednesday 18 January 2017.

The first session focuses on a post-implementation review of IFRS 13 Fair Value Measurement. The requirements in IFRS 13 are substantially the same as those in the FASB’s requirements, the two boards having worked to have converged standards. The staff is recommending that the IASB move ahead with a post-implementation review and that the Board should issue a request for information as part of that process.

The Board will continue its discussions from December 2016 on a possible amendment to IFRS 9 Financial Instruments in relation to symmetric prepayment options, to allow instruments with a prepayment options to qualify for amortised cost measurement. The staff are recommending that the Board proceed with an amendment.

The Board is currently preparing an exposure draft to clarify the difference between an accounting policy and a change in estimate. The staff will provide feedback on the testing of the proposed wording.

The Staff will also provide the IASB with a brief (ten minute) oral update on the insurance contracts project.

The Conceptual Framework session focuses on factors specific to initial measurement; the use of more than one measurement basis; and whether to confirm the proposals to update the references in Standards and Interpretations to the Conceptual Framework.

Our pre-meeting summaries are available on our January meeting note page and will be supplemented with our popular meeting notes after the meeting.

In the video interviews, IPSASB members from different nations describe the process and share key details, timelines, and lessons learned in their jurisdictions in connection with the adoption of IPSAS. The two new videos are for Austria and Australia.

In 2015, the IPSASB had already published videos for South Africa, Panama, New Zealand, Switzerland, and Brazil.

All videos are available on the IPSASB website.

The Board will discuss the post-implementation review of IFRS 13, symmetric prepayment options related to IFRS 9, accounting policies/estimates and the Conceptual Framework.

The full agenda for the meeting can be found here. We will post any updates to the agenda, our comprehensive pre-meeting summaries as well as observer notes from the meeting on this page as they become available.

While Ms White acknowledged that there had been no formal action by the Commission since 2010 and that any further action would be in the responsibility of the new SEC Chair Clayton, she nevertheless described the last years as a success:

Although the FASB and IASB have completed their agreed-upon, priority convergence projects, this milestone must not mark the end of the intense collaboration that has occurred between the two Boards over the last few years. These efforts have greatly enhanced the quality of accounting standards in a number of important areas, including recently narrowing many differences in the accounting standards for revenue recognition, leases, credit losses on financial instruments, and recognition and measurement of financial assets and liabilities.

She also noted that this progress was very important and that it needed to continue as both Boards, as well as investors, would benefit greatly from their sustained engagement. She concluded:

The United States cannot afford to be myopic about this issue in light of the benefits of these efforts for all stakeholders. Strong support of both the FASB and the IASB by U.S. investors, companies, auditors, and others, including the Commission, is essential. Indeed, it should be self-evident that the pursuit of high-quality globally accepted accounting standards is part of the SEC’s continuing responsibility to encourage, facilitate and direct efforts to enhance the quality of all financial reporting that directly impacts the protection of investors and the strength of our markets.

Please click to access the full statement on the SEC website

The ASU amends ASC 805 to “provide a more robust framework to use in determining when a set of assets and activities is a business.” In addition, the amendments “provide more consistency in applying the guidance, reduce the costs of application, and make the definition of a business more operable.”

The ASU discusses its divergence with IFRS:

The definition of a business in GAAP is currently identical to the definition in IFRS. However, the Board observed that although the definition is identical, it does not appear to be interpreted or applied consistently in practice between jurisdictions that apply GAAP and jurisdictions that apply IFRS. That is, stakeholders have said that in jurisdictions that apply IFRS, the definition of a business generally is not applied as broadly as it is in jurisdictions that apply GAAP. In response to concerns from its stakeholders about the complexity of the definition of a business, the IASB added a project on the definition of a business to its agenda and issued an Exposure Draft, Definition of a Business and Accounting for Previously Held Interests, which proposes similar amendments to those in this Update.

For more information, see the press release, ASU, and FASB in Focus newsletter on the FASB’s website.

The European national enforcers of financial information monitor and review financial statements published by issuers with securities traded on a regulated European market and who prepare their financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and consider whether they comply with IFRS and other applicable reporting requirements, including relevant national law.

ESMA has developed a confidential database of enforcement decisions taken by individual European enforcers as a source of information to foster appropriate application of IFRS.

The publication of enforcement decisions is designed to inform market participants about which accounting treatments European national enforcers may consider as complying with IFRS, i.e. whether the treatments are considered as being within the accepted range of those permitted by IFRS. ESMA considers the publication of the decisions, together with the rationale behind them, will contribute to a consistent application of IFRS in the European Union.

Topics covered in the latest batch of extracts, covering the period from March 2014 to June 2016, include:

Click for access to the full report (link to ESMA website). The ESMA has also published an updated overview of all enforcement decisions ever published.