The GLASS research project is related to the recognition in the financial statements of high inflation effects before reaching hyperinflation, as IAS 29 Financial Reporting in Hyperinflationary Economies currently requires. As part of the research project, GLASS has prepared a questionnaire and would appreciate feedback from IAS Plus readers.

Please be advised that the deadline for the completed questionnaire is 31 May 2017. It is available for download here. Completed questionnaires should be submitted to fperezcervantes [at] cinif.org.mx.

Accountancy Europe is holding a lunch event focusing on the practical implications of the new European Directive 2014/EU/94 on non-financial and diversity information that came into force in January 2017. In particular, the 12 July 2017, free of charge event will address arising issues in the field of ESG reporting, how to best comply with the new requirements, stakeholder expectations, and what constitutes good reporting overall. Please click for more information on the Accountancy Europe website.

At the 4th African Congress of Accountants (ACOA17) the Pan-African Federation of Accountants (PAFA) announced an Integrated Reporting Committee for Africa. The Committee is an initiative by PAFA and the World Bank and its aim is to promote integrated reporting in African countries. The Committee will initially have seven member countries: Botswana, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia and South Africa. More information is available on this website.

The SASB Foundation, responsible for the funding and oversight of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), has announced the appointment of nine inaugural members to the SASB Standards Board. The members are independent experts appointed by the SASB Foundation Board of Directors to adopt the standards, review and maintain the technical agenda, make proposed updates to the standards, and have overall responsibility for the standards-setting process. Please click for the announcement on the SASB website.

Dr Lu is currently Director of the Accounting Regulatory Department of the Chinese Ministry of Finance and in charge of Chinese accounting standard-setting. He represents the China Accounting Standards Committee on the IASB's Accounting Standards Advisory Forum (ASAF) and has regularly contributed to the meetings of the IASB's Emerging Economies Group (EEG). Dr Lu is also known for his important contributions to the work of the Asian-Oceanian Standard-Setters Group (AOSSG).

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

The exposure drafts regard an AAOIFI accounting standard on impairment and credit losses as well as an accounting standard on sukuk (comparable to conventional bonds). More information is available here:

• Impairment and credit losses exposure draft
• Sukuk exposure draft

The new standard regards repurchase transactions and the applicable Shariah rulings for the Islamic financial institutions. The new standard is the 58th standard issued by the AAOIFI. More information is available here.

The report AAOIFI in 850 Days, which was already released in February 2017, covers AAOIFI developments, activities, projects, and achievements from September 2014 to the end of 2016. It can be downloaded in an English and an Arabic version through this press release.

Finally, the AAOIFI board has approved a plan to issue guidance covering sharia-compliance, accounting and governance of awqaf, with a working group established for the project. Awqaf are Islamic endowments that receive donations to operate specific social projects, such as mosques, schools and welfare schemes. Most awqaf do not disclose full financial figures yet. More information is available in this press release.

The con­fer­ence will include an update by the IASB as well as its future plans. It will also have technical break-out sessions on IFRS 16, financial instruments with characteristics of equity, conceptual framework, primary financial statements, and rate-regulated activities.

For more information, see the conference page on the IASB’s website.

There are six topics on the agenda.

Tuesday 16 May

The meeting will start with an education session (meaning that the IASB will not be asked to make any decisions) on Dynamic Risk Management. The staff will be explaining to the Board how net interest margin is managed, and the related financial reporting implications.

This will be followed a session on Rate-regulated Activities, focusing on the characteristics of the supplementary rights and obligations created by rate adjustment mechanisms.

The afternoon session begins with implementation issues. The IASB will be asked to ratify an Interpretation Uncertainty over Income Tax Treatments. The staff are also recommending that the IASB finalise an amendment to IAS 28 Investments in Associates and Joint Ventures to clarify that IFRS 9 applies to long-term interests in such investments. The proposal was included in the Exposure Draft Annual Improvements to IFRS Standards 2015–2017 Cycle published in January 2017.

They complete the day with updates on the implementation of IFRS 16 Leases and the Research Programme.

Wednesday 17 May

The meeting continues on Wednesday morning with a 90 minute education session on goodwill and impairment.

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

The agenda for the meeting is sum­marised below:

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

The Board will discuss:

• Dynamic risk management (education session)
• Rate-regulated activities
• IFRS implementation issues (IFRIC 23)
• Leases
• Reserach programme update
• Goodwill and impairment (education session)

Pre-meeting summaries on IFRS implementation issues and Leases are already available.

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

This first draft comment letter contains EFRAG's preliminary views on the questions contained in the discussion paper. The positions expressed in this document have been prepared by EFRAG's Technical Expert Group (TEG) and have been reviewed by the EFRAG Board. However, the Board concluded that with this topic answering the questions in the consultation document is as answering the ones that were not specifically asked but that arise from the paper nonetheless. These would regard cross-cutting and strategic issues, for example:

• the boundary between financial statements and the annual report;
• the consideration of the impact of technology on the presentation of financial statements;
• the relationship between general-purpose financial reporting and electronic filing; and
• the scalability of disclosure requirements and the relevance of the proposals to the broad spectrum of listed companies.

The EFRAG Board will continue discussing these issues in May and will then replace this initial consultation document with a full draft comment letter.

Comments on EFRAG's final draft comment letter are requested by 11 September 2017. For more information, see the press release and the initial draft comment letter on the EFRAG website.

The IASB issued its DP, Disclosure Initiative—Principles of Disclosure in March 2017. This webcast — hosted by IASB member Gary Kabureck — discusses:

• The background and objective of the Principles of Disclosure project.
• Disclosure issues identified by the Board.
• Possible approaches to remedy these disclosure issues, including the Board's preliminary views.
• The questions on which the Board is seeking feedback.

The webcast is available on the IASB’s website.