June

IASB issues 'Investor Update' newsletter

28 Jun 2017

The IASB has issued the thirteenth edition of its newsletter 'Investor Update', which provides investors with quick access to information about current accounting and financial reporting topics.

This issue features:

  • An overview of the Discussion Paper on principles of disclosure
  • An interview with Geoff Robinson, Executive Director, UBS Investment Bank
  • A call for views on the post-implementation review of IFRS 13 and the Principles of Disclosure discussion paper
  • Information on investor materials and current events.

The Investor Update newsletter is available on the IASB’s website.

ASCG exposes draft implementation guidance on IFRS 2

28 Jun 2017

The Accounting Standards Committee of Germany has issued draft implementation guidance on IFRS 2 'Share-based payments'. Whilst the guidance was developed to help entities in the German environment, it might be relevant for entities in other jurisdictions as well. The ASCG has been in close contact with the IASB staff to make sure that the guidance is not in conflict with the IASB’s amendment.

The exposure draft E-IG 4 Equity-settled share-based payments with net settlement features: Accounting for cash compensation is not intended to be an interpretation. Instead it reproduces deliberations by the IASB, the IFRS IC, and their staff on this issue that has not been incorporated into IFRS 2.

The guidance is intended to answert the following questions:

  • At what point is it necessary to present the cash compensation separately as a cash-settled share-based payment?
  • How is it accounted for?

The exposure draft can be accessed through the press release on the ASCG website. Comments are requested by 11 August 2017.

Norway steps back from ambitious plan to introduce of IFRS for SMEs based accounting standards

27 Jun 2017

In 2015, the Norwegian Ministry of Finance circulated for comment an exposure draft of a new Accounting Act for Norway. Part of the proposed reform was to replace current Norwegian accounting standards by requirements based on the IASB’s IFRS for SMEs. In another exposure draft published now, the proposals get scaled back to minimum changes that would not even suffice to bring the Norwegian Accounting Act in line with the revised European Accounting Directive.

The fact that the changes to the existing accounting legislation in Norway proposed now will not even meet the minimum requirements of the new European Accounting Directive together with the fact that the new proposals only comprise some of the suggested simplifications of the original proposal and even come with stressing a calculated amount of several hundred million crowns the simplifications would save, seem to point at a conscious move ahead of the upcoming elections in Norway. Both, the Norwegian standard-setter (Norsk RegnskapsStiftelse) and the Norwegian national institute (Norsk Revisorforening), have reacted with disappointment.

The following additional information is available (available in Norwegian only):

European Commission adopts guidelines on the disclosure of non-financial information

27 Jun 2017

The EU Directive on disclosure of non-financial and diversity information by large companies and groups addressing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues entered into force on 6 December 2014. The European Commission (EC) has now adopted non-binding guidelines on the disclosure of non-financial information by companies. Their objective is to help companies fulfil the requirement to disclose relevant and useful information on environmental and social matters in a consistent and more comparable way.

The guidelines propose that any company should disclose relevant information on the actual and potential impacts of its operations on the environment, and on how current and foreseeable environmental matters may affect the company. Greater and more relevant transparency is expected to lead towards a major reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient growth and jobs.

The following documents are available on the EC website:

SME Implementation Group publishes draft Q&A for comment

27 Jun 2017

The SME Implementation Group (SMEIG) has published a draft question and answer (Q&A) on the IFRS for SMEs.

The Q&A addresses the accounting treatment for a financial guarantee issued by a parent company in that parent company's separate financial statements.

Comments are requested by 1 September 2017. The draft is available on the IASB website.

IASB abandons PDF viewer approach

27 Jun 2017

Saved links to PDF documents on the new IASB website now return a "No valid document" comment without indicating why the document is no longer available nor where it can be found now. IAS Plus have investigated the issue and found that the IASB has abandoned the PDF viewer approach it had adopted when moving to its new website.

PDFs are now directly available again, however, you have to revisit the IASB news item or other place in the site where you originally found the document. On IAS Plus we have fixed all links in all news items we posted since 10 June, which might help you locate the PDFs - for example the exposure draft of proposed amendments to IAS 16 published on 20 June.

June 2017 IASB meeting notes posted

26 Jun 2017

The IASB met at its offices in London on Wednesday 21 and Thursday 22 June 2017. We have posted our comprehensive Deloitte observer notes for all projects discussed during the meeting.

Wednesday 21 June

The meeting began with a Conceptual Framework discussion about limitations on what may constitute a reporting entity in situations when the reporting entity is not a legal entity.

The Board decided to propose removing one of the examples in IAS 8 when it releases an exposure draft later this year addressing the differences between accounting estimates and accounting policies.

The Board continued its discussion of Primary Financial Statements, focusing on approaches for describing capital structure, developing a principles-based approach for EBIT, management-defined performance measures, adjusted earnings per share and presenting the share of equity method profits or losses.

In the afternoon session the Board looked at rate-regulation examples and how the proposed model would apply to them.

Thursday 22 June

The meeting continued with IFRS Implementation Issues.

The Board supports a proposal to provide special transitional arrangements when an entity changes an accounting policy as a consequence of an IFRS Interpretations Committee agenda decision.

The Board discussed the feedback from the comment letters on the proposed amendment to IFRS 9 on prepayment features with negative compensation, including the likely effective date.

The education sessions on dynamic risk management focused on a high-level illustration of the dynamic aspect of dynamic risk management.

The meeting concluded with a further discussion of the definition of a business.

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

IPSASB podcast and Q&A document on materiality

23 Jun 2017

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) staff have issued a podcast and a questions and answers document on the application of materiality to preparing financial statements.

Both documents explain the accounting requirements for materiality in International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS).

Please click to access the podcast and the Q&A document on the IPSASB website.

ASBJ publishes proposed amendments to 'Japan’s Modified International Standards'

23 Jun 2017

The ASBJ has issued JMIS Exposure Draft No. 4 'Proposed amendments to Japan’s Modified International Standards (JMIS): Accounting Standards Comprising IFRSs and the ASBJ Modifications'.

For this round the ASBJ undertook the endorsement process mainly on IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers. The ASBJ additionally undertook the endorsement process on the amendments to IFRS 12 included in Annual Improvements to IFRS Standards 2014-2016 Cycle, because they were effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2017 and therefore their prompt endorsement was considered necessary.

The ASBJ’s future policy for the endorsement process on standards issued by the IASB will be to undertake the process individually for major standards, such as IFRS 9 Financial Instruments, IFRS 16 Leases, and IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts. Other amendments will continue to be, to the extent possible, covered in half-year batches.

Please click for access to all relevant documents on the ASBJ website (all documents available in the English language).

Academic workshop on measurement in financial reporting

23 Jun 2017

The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) invites academics to join a workshop on measurement in financial reporting and the challenges and objectives connected with it in Brussels on 5 September 2017.

The objective of the workshop is to debate ideas on some of the main issues around measurement (e.g. uncertainty and discounting) and how these can be investigated. Participation in the workshop is free-of-charge but restricted to academics.

Please click for more information on the EFRAG 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.