2018

Updated IASB work plan — Analysis

25 Sep 2018

Following the IASB's September 2018 meeting, we have analysed the IASB work plan to see what changes have resulted from the meeting and other developments since the work plan was last revised in July. Six new projects were added to the work plan.

Below is an analysis of all changes made to the work plan since our last analysis on 20 July 2018.

Standard-setting projects

  • Primary financial statements — After deliberations at its September meeting, the IASB decided to move the project from the research agenda to the standard-setting agenda.

Main­te­nance projects

  • Classification of liabilities as current or non-current (Amendments to IAS 1) — After deliberations at its September meeting, the IASB decided the next milestone would be an IFRS amendment. No expected date has been set.
  • Definition of a business (Amendments to IFRS 3) — An IFRS amendment has been pushed to October 2018 (previously set to September 2018).
  • Disclosure Initiative — Accounting policies — Newly added to the work plan. The Board discussed this topic at its September meeting. An exposure draft is noted in the work plan without an expected date.
  • Updating a reference to the Conceptual Framework (Amendments to IFRS 3) — Newly added to the work plan; the Board will decide the project direction at its November 2018 meeting.

Research projects

  • Extractive activities — Newly added to the work plan. The Board discussed this topic at its September meeting and plans to review research. No expected date is listed.
  • IBOR reform and the effects of financial reporting — Newly added to work plan; the Board plans to decide the project direction in Q4 2018.
  • Pension benefits that depend on asset returns — Newly added to the work plan; the Board plans to review research in H2 2019.
  • Share-based payment — The project summary slipped from September 2018 and is now expected in October 2018.

Other projects

  • IFRS Taxonomy update — 2018 general improvements — Newly added to the work plan; a proposed update is expected in Q4 2018.
  • IFRS Taxonomy update — Common practice (IFRS 13) — The IASB published this update on 20 September 2018. The work plan now states that the Board will analyse feedback in Q1 2019.

The above is a faithful com­par­i­son of the IASB work plan at 20 July 2018 and at 25 September 2018. For access to the current IASB work plan at any time, please click here.

 

EC stakeholder event on non-financial disclosures

24 Sep 2018

On 18 Ocotober 2018, the European Commission (EC) is organising an open stakeholder meeting on non-financial disclosures in Brussels.

The event is split into a morning and an afternoon session:

Please click for more information and registration on the EC website. Participants may register for just the morning session, just the afternoon session, or both. The meeting will also be webcast.

EC high-level conference on the future of corporate reporting

21 Sep 2018

On 30 November 2018, the European Commission (EC) is organising a high-level conference on "The Future of Corporate Reporting in a digital and sustainable economy" in Brussels.

The conference follows the public consultation on corporate reporting the EC conducted from March to July 2018. (The responses to the consultation have not yet been made publicly available.)

The conference is intended as an additional opportunity to share views and debate on the future of corporate reporting as well as to provide additional input into the EC's "fitness check".

Please click for more information and registration on the EC website. The conference will also be webcast.

IFRS Foundation publishes proposed IFRS Taxonomy update

20 Sep 2018

The IFRS Foundation has published 'IFRS Taxonomy 2018 — Proposed Update 1 Common Practice (IFRS 13 'Fair Value Measurement')'.

This Taxonomy update includes elements to reflect the new common reporting practice for the disclosure requirements in IFRS 13 Fair Value Measurement, including (1) sensitivity of fair value measurement to changes in unobservable inputs and (2) quantitative information about significant unobservable inputs used in fair value measurement.

For more information, see the press release and Taxonomy update on the IASB’s website. Comments are requested by 19 November 2018.

EFRAG webinar on FICE Discussion Paper

20 Sep 2018

In August 2018, the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) issued a draft comment letter on the IASB discussion paper DP/2018/1 'Financial Instruments with Characteristics of Equity' (FICE DP). This is now followed by a webinar will delving more deeply into the more challenging and contentious areas of FICE.

The webinar, which builds on the draft comment letter, will take place on 12 October 2018 from 12:00 to 13:00 (Brussels time). Please click for more information and registration on the EFRAG website.

Final programme for the World Standard-setters meeting in October available

19 Sep 2018

The final programme has been released for the upcoming World Standard-setters meeting, which is being held in London on 1-2 October 2018.

A summary of the programme is set out below:

Monday, 1 October 2018 (09:00 - 18:15)

  • Opening remarks
  • Welcome address
  • IASB technical programme update
  • The need for a Conceptual Framework
  • Overview of the Conceptual Framework
  • Conceptual Framework – small-group discussions
  • Breakout sessions
    • Business combinations under common control
    • Better communications — focus on primary financial statements and disclosures
    • Financial instruments with characteristics of equity — discussion paper
    • Goodwill and impairment
    • IFRS Interpretations Committee update and implementation of new standards strategy

Tuesday, 2 October 2018 (09:00 - 13:00)

  • Panel Discussion — Management Commentary
  • Breakout sessions (repeated from previous day)
  • Conceptual Framework – feedback session

Papers for the meeting are available on the IASB's website. The WSS meeting will be immediately followed by a meeting of the International Forum of Accounting Standard Setters (IFASS).

We comment on the proposed IFRS Foundation Constitution amendments

17 Sep 2018

We have responded to the IFRS Foundation's exposure draft 'Amending the Terms of Appointment of the IFRS Foundation Trustee Chair and Vice-Chairs' that was published in June 2018.

Our comment letter notes our reservations about the exposure draft:

  • We do not support the proposals; they would over-engineer the Constitution and probably limit rather than help the Trustees and Monitoring Board when making appointments.
  • We do not support making a distinction between internal and external appointments.
  • We would not wish to prevent the direct appointment of a Vice-Chair concurrently with that person's appointment as a Trustee.
  • We continue to support the practice that a Trustee may serve two three-year terms, but can see that a third term of up to three years may be necessary for continuity. We do not support subsequent re-appointments to the IFRS Foundation.

Download the full comment letter here.

Agenda for the first meeting of the Management Commentary Consultative Group

17 Sep 2018

In November 2017 the IASB added to its agenda a project to update the IFRS Practice Statement 'Management Commentary'. To support this project, the Board created the Management Commentary Consultative Group. The agenda for the first meeting of the group on 28 September 2018 is now available.

The agenda for the meeting is as follows:

Friday, 28 September 2018 (09:30-17:00)

  • Introductory remarks
  • Objective of management commentary
  • Applying materiality in management commentary
  • Principles for preparing management commentary
    • Coherence
    • Neutrality
    • Other matters

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

IFRS Interpretations Committee holds September 2018 meeting

14 Sep 2018

The IFRS Interpretations Committee met in London on 11 and 12 September 2018 to discuss thirteen issues, including five new interpretation requests. We have posted Deloitte observer notes for the technical issues discussed during this meeting.

New Issues

The Committee received submissions asking whether:

  • IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers: whether fees for admitting an entity to a stock exchange and fees for an ongoing listing service are distinct or relate to only one service
  • IFRS 11 Joint Arrangements: how the operators in a joint operation should report a lease liability on a contract signed by the joint operation or signed only by a lead operator
  • IAS 38 Intangible Assets: whether, some, cloud computing arrangements create an intangible asset
  • IAS 27 Separate Financial Statements: when an entity loses control of a subsidiary as a result of disposing some of its interest, can the entity elect to measure the retained interest at FVOCI and can any gain or loss on initial disposal be presented in profit or loss
  • IAS 27 Separate Financial Statements: whether the cost of a subsidiary acquired in stages is the fair value of the tranches (as deemed cost) or the sum of the consideration actually paid

The Committee decided not to take the IFRS 15, IFRS 11 and IAS 27 issues agenda will issue tentative decisions to that effect. The IAS 38 issue will be discussed again at the November meeting.

Agenda Decisions to finalise

The Committee considered the feedback on four tentative Agenda Decisions and decided to finalise them all:

  • IAS 23 Borrowing Costs — Expenditure on a qualifying asset
  • IAS 23 Borrowing Costs — Borrowing costs on land
  • IAS 21 The Effects of Changes in Foreign Currency Exchange Rates — Determination of the exchange rate when there is a long term lack of exchangeability
  • IFRS 9 Financial Instruments — Classification of a particular type of dual currency bond

Items for continuing consideration

Two matters were carried forward from earlier meetings:

  • IAS 37 Provisions, Contingent Liabilities and Contingent Assets — Payments relating to taxes other than income tax. The Committee decided not to take this matter onto its agenda, and to issue a tentative Agenda Decision to that effect.
  • IFRS 9 Financial Instruments — Hedge accounting with load following swaps. A tentative Agenda Decision was issued in March 2018. In light of the comments received the Committee decided not to finalise the Agenda Decision, but to issue a revised tentative Agenda Decision (i.e. to provide an opportunity for additional feedback).

Advice from the Committee for the IASB

The Committee also discussed two topics for which the IASB has asked for feedback: Cryptocurrencies (including holdings of cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings); and feedback on the proposed amendments to the definitions of accounting policies and estimates in IAS 8 Accounting Policies, Changes in Accounting Estimates and Errors.

Other work in progress

Possible revisions to IAS 21 The Effects of Changes in Foreign Exchange Rates to clarify the accounting when the spot rate is not observable is not being discussed at this meeting. Three additional requests have been received, and are being analysed. They relate to IFRS 9 Financial Instruments and the physical settlement of a contract to buy or sell a non-financial item; IFRS 11 Joint Arrangements when there is a difference between a joint operator's entitlement to output and the amount they have actually received; and IAS 23 Borrowing Costs and the capitalisation of borrowing costs on assets being developed for sale for which revenue is recognised over time.

More information

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

​Call for members of the European Corporate Reporting Lab Steering Group reveals intended structure and remit

14 Sep 2018

In March 2018, the European Commission published an action plan on sustainable finance that included as one of the action points the creation of a European Corporate Reporting Lab as part of the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG). The idea was expected to result in something similar to the UK FRC Financial Reporting Lab, however, the solution found differs quite considerably as regards structure and remit.

As the call for candidates for the Steering Group of the Lab and an agenda paper for the meeting of the Accounting Regulatory Committee (ARC) in June 2018 reveal, the Lab is to be a separate body under the umbrella of EFRAG, drawing on the EFRAG budget and the EFRAG Secretariat for the day-to-day operation, but the Lab's output "will not be subject to usual EFRAG approval procedures or signed off by the EFRAG Board". (Participants of individual projects of the Lab will have the opportunity to comment on draft project reports before publication, but will also not be asked to approve such reports.)

The European Lab also differs from the UK Lab in that its remit, at least initially, is restricted to non-financial reporting and sustainability reporting although it is noted that the remit of the European Lab should be extended "in the medium term" to include, for example, integrated reporting. Similarly to the UK Lab, however, the "overall aim of the laboratory is to improve corporate reporting [...] and promote good reporting practices". Boundaries of this work are that it is "not the task of the laboratory to develop authoritative recommendations [...] or to develop policy recommendations" and that the Commission may steer the Lab's work by "request[ing] the laboratory to work on particular topics that fall within its scope". 

The unusual structure (the European Commission setting up the Lab under the roof of EFRAG without giving the EFRAG Board a formal say in its work) is also reflected in the composition of the Steering Group. While currently still looking for members, the Chair and the Vice-Chair of the group have already been decided: The Chair will be the President of EFRAG Board (Jean-Paul Gauzès) even though the EFRAG Board will not be involved in any decisions; the Vice-Chair will be the Head of Unit from the European Commission responsible for policy on corporate reporting (Alain Deckers).

More information on the Action plan on sustainable finance, the European Lab, and the Steering Group can be found here:

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