July

Support material for IFRS 17 on reinsurance contracts held

13 Jul 2018

The IASB has published a pocket guide on reinsurance contracts held and a simple example of a reinsurance contract held to support the implementation of IFRS 17 'Insurance Contracts'.

The pocket guide (24 pages) includes insights from the discussions of the Transition Resource Group for IFRS 17 and the simple example of a reinsurance contract held illustrates the requirements applied to a group of underlying insurance contracts and applied to a reinsurance contract held that provides proportionate coverage for that group of underlying insurance contracts.

The new material is available on the IASB website:

 

EFRAG is looking for new TEG members

13 Jul 2018

The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) is inviting applications for its Technical Expert Group (TEG).

Seven of the sixteen members of EFRAG TEG will reach the end of their current term of appointment on 31 March 2019 and three of the country liaison members reach the end of their current term on 30 November 2018. While all members are eligible for reappointment, EFRAG welcomes all applications and in particular seeks candidates with user, preparer and academic backgrounds.

Please see the press release on the EFRAG website for more information.

ASBJ and EFRAG hold joint meeting

12 Jul 2018

On 11 July 2018, the Accounting Standards Board of Japan (ASBJ) and the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) held a joint meeting in Brussels. The meeting was the fourth bilateral meeting between the two bodies.

In addition to giving updates on their respective standard-setting activities and research projects (pensions, alternative measures for equity instruments, virtual currencies, and goodwill) at the meeting, the two bodies exchanged views on the IASB research projects on financial instruments with characteristics of equity, primary financial statements, and principles of disclosure.

For more information about the meeting, see the press release on the ASBJ website.

Recent sustainability and integrated reporting developments

11 Jul 2018

A summary of recent developments at the CDSB, CDSB/WBCSD, IIRC, GRI, and CDP.

In the past few months, the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB) held various workshops on the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations to provide guidance on the topic and gather feedback on the challenges and solutions that organisations are adopting on this journey.Several entries on the CDSB website reflect the input gathered:

The CDSB, jointly with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD),has also released new data from the Reporting Exchange analysing differences in environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting between sectors, market maturity levels and national contexts. The report underscores that while sustainability reporting is moving in the right direction, the pace of change needs to accelerate to ensure a prosperous and sustainable future. Please click to access the report on the CDSB website.

Participants of the <IR> Technology Initiative of the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) have published a technology primer, identifying steps that Chief Information Officer’s can take to build an information architecture that supports integrated reporting. Please click to access the primer on the IIRC website.

The IIRC has also launched the ‘Integrated Thinking & Strategy’ special interest group, which offers organisations the opportunity to share thinking about developing strategy across multiple capitals, learn from each other and co-create a common world view of integrated thinking that is globally relevant to help build resilient, future-fit businesses. Please click for more information on the IIRC website.

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) announces that as off 1 July 2018 the transition from GRI’s G4 guidelines to the Sustainability Reporting Standards (GRI Standards) is complete. The standards feature a modular, interrelated structure, and represent the global best practice for reporting on a range of economic, environmental and social impacts. This makes them easier to update, so that they keep pace with developments in the different fields. Please click for more information on the GRI website.

The GRI has also released two updated standards:

  • GRI 403: Occupational Health and Safety 2018 – Putting worker health first
  • GRI 303: Water and Effluents 2018 – From water management to water stewardship

More information on the updated standards and access to additional resources is available on the GRI website.

The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) has published Reporting climate resilience: The challenges ahead. The top three challenges for companies in adopting the TCFD recommendations are identified as (1) ensuring leadership support for enhanced disclosure, (2) revising risk assessment processes, and (3) applying scenario analysis to climate change. Please click to access the report.

IASB announces membership of consultative group for updating the Management Commentary Practice Statement

10 Jul 2018

In November 2017, the IASB formally added a project to revise its Management Commentary Practice Statement to its agenda. The IASB has now announced the membership of the consultative group that will advise the Board on this project.

The 18 members of the group are:

  • Rodrigo Araujo Alves, Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras)
  • Andreas Barckow, ASCG
  • Melissa Brown, Daobridge Capital Ltd.
  • Larissa van Deventer, Equity Research Analyst
  • Liliana Franco, Air Liquide
  • Lisa French, IIRC
  • Yukako Fujioka, FSA, Japan
  • Trent W. Klein, TELUS Coporation
  • Toby Langley, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
  • Kris Peach, AASB
  • Sandra J. Peters, CFA Institute
  • Deepa Raval, UK FRC
  • Massimo Romano, Generali S.P.A.
  • Michael Tovey, Bank of America
  • Ryoko Ueda, Mizuho International
  • Mark Vaessen, KPMG
  • Jed Wrigley, Eight Roads
  • Benjamin Yeoh, Royal Bank of Canada

EFRAG, ESMA, IAASB, and IOSCO are observers.

Please see the press release on the IASB website.

Educational material on IFRS 17

10 Jul 2018

The IASB has published 'Insurance contracts issued by mutual entities' to support the implementation of IFRS 17 'Insurance Contracts'.

The publication covers:

  • what a mutual entity is;
  • accounting for contracts issued by a mutual entity; and
  • whether a mutual entity could have equity.

The 12 page document can be downloaded free of charge from the IASB website.

Inflation in Argentina — Reporting on periods ending 30 June 2018

10 Jul 2018

Levels of inflation in Argentina have been high for some time, with a significant increase in May 2018 resulting in inflation indices exceeding 100% on a three‑year cumulative basis. It is also understood that the qualitative indicators of hyperinflation are, to varying degrees, present in Argentina.

Deloitte's IFRS Global Office has published an IFRS in Focus newsletter looking into implications of the situation in Argentina as regards reporting on Argentinian operations at 30 June 2018 and disclosure in June 2018 financial statements.

Please click here to access the publication.

Summary of the June 2018 ITCG meeting

09 Jul 2018

The IASB has published the summary to the IFRS Taxonomy Consultative Group (ITCG) meeting held on 11 June 2018.

The ITCG discussed the following:

  • Common practice analysis of IFRS 13 Fair Value Measurement.
  • Update on IFRS Taxonomy activities.

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

July 2018 IASB meeting agenda posted

06 Jul 2018

The IASB has posted the agenda for its next meeting, which will be held at its offices in London on 17–18 July 2018. There are nine topics on the agenda.

The Board will discuss the following:

  • Rate-regulated activities
    • Measurement
    • Presentation and disclosure objective (education session)
  • Management commentary
  • Business combinations under common control
  • Conceptual Framework
  • Implementation:
    • IFRIC Update
    • Costs considered in assessing whether a contract is onerous (IAS 37) — Possible narrow-scope standard-setting
    • Transactions involving commodities and cryptocurrencies — Potential new research project
  • Disclosure initiative:
    • Definition of material — Amendments to IAS 1 and IAS 8: due process steps and balloting
    • Targeted standards-level review of disclosures
    • Principles of disclosure:
      • Project next steps
      • Technology and digital reporting considerations
  • Accounting policies and accounting estimates
  • Emerging Economies Group update
  • Goodwill and impairment

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.

Impact study concludes that adoption of Ind AS in India was a success

06 Jul 2018

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has published 'Indian Accounting Standards (IFRS converged): Successful Implementation - Impact Analysis and Industry Experience'. The publication looks into how the adoption of Ind AS, which are based on and substantially converged with IFRSs, has impacted the quality of financial information of Indian companies.

In conclusion, ICAI believes that "Ind AS implementation has provided better insights into the financial affairs of the companies and Ind AS based financial statements reflect the underlying economics of the transactions/events in a transparent and unbiased manner. It has also improved the comparability and benchmarking of the financials of Indian Companies with Global Peers, thereby improving the accessibility of Indian Companies to Global Capital Markets".

Please click to access the full impact analysis (140 pages) on the ICAI website.

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