November

Summary of the October 2019 CMAC meeting

06 Nov 2019

Representatives from the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) met with the Capital Markets Advisory Council (CMAC) in London on 10 October 2019. Notes from the joint meeting have now been released.

The topics discussed at the meeting included:

  • Rate regulated activities.
  • Post-implementation review of IFRS 10, IFRS 11, and IFRS 12.
  • Agenda consultation.

The next meeting will be held on 26 March 2020.

For more in­for­ma­tion, see the meeting page and the meeting summary on the IASB's website.

IASB Chair discusses the future of financial reporting

05 Nov 2019

In a speech at the Eumedion Annual Symposium, IASB Chair Hans Hoogervorst discussed the Board’s projects on primary financial statements (PFS), management commentary and sustainability reporting.

Mr Hooger­vorst began with an overview of the PFS project and provided comments related to new subtotals, such as operating profit and profit before financing and tax. He also discussed the need for greater transparency and discipline in the use of non-GAAP measures.

Next, Mr Hooger­vorst commented on man­age­ment com­men­tary to provide broader financial in­for­ma­tion, such as the impact of in­tan­gi­ble assets. In addition, the project will revise the Practice Statement to accommodate the increase in interest in sustainability reporting.

Lastly, he agreed with the Eumedion’s green paper, Towards a global standard-setter for non-financial reporting, which called for the need for consolidation in non-financial reporting.

For more in­for­ma­tion, see the tran­script of his speech on the IASB’s website.

FRC launches 'Horizons' project series

05 Nov 2019

The Financial Reporting Lab of the UK Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is inviting investors and companies to participate in a new project on the disclosure of business models, strategy and the longer-term. The project is part of a new series focused around integrating longer-term time horizons into reporting.

The project will consider what users want from business model and strategy disclosures and how companies might best communicate the longer-term. It is likely to: 

  • explore how companies develop, monitor and communicate their business model and strategy;
  • examine how companies include a longer-term focus in their reporting;
  • consider how companies communicate uncertainty in their disclosures;
  • analyse how investors use this information in their decision-making process and identify whether emerging reporting meets investor needs;
  • discuss which areas of reporting are most challenging for companies; 
  • consider the extent to which UK companies can learn lessons from emerging international reporting practice; and 
  • highlight best practice in current company reporting. 

Please click for more information on the FRC website.

Recordings from the sixth IASB Research Forum

04 Nov 2019

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) hosted its sixth Research Forum on 28–29 October 2019 in Short Hills, New Jersey, with the Journal of International Accounting Research (JIAR). The IASB has now released audio recordings and slides from the presentations given at the forum.

The meeting saw the pre­sen­ta­tion on four academic papers, responses by academics and stan­dard-set­ters as well as a general dis­cus­sion with the audience. In addition, two case studies were discussed during breakout sessions.

For more information, see the press release and access the slides and audio recordings on the IASB’s website.

Recent sustainability reporting developments

04 Nov 2019

A summary of recent developments at the European Commission, GRI, Deloitte, CFA Society Denmark, CDSB, and SSE.

The European Commission (EC) has published a final report on EU Climate Benchmarks and Benchmarks’ ESG Disclosures by its Technical Expert Group (TEG) on Sustainable Finance. The report recommends a set of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) disclosure requirements, including the standard format to be used for the reporting. The final report and supporting documents are available here.

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is inviting companies and stakeholders to join a webinar on 5 December to discuss the future of reporting on responsible minerals sourcing. More information and access to the report Advancing Reporting on Responsible Minerals Sourcing the webinar builds on is available on the GRI website.

Deloitte's Annual report insights 2019, based on reports from 100 UK companies, reveals that companies are increasingly going beyond financial drivers and focusing on ‘success factors’ such as societal and environmental impacts. Please click to access the report here.

The CFA Society Denmark has published ESG key figures in the annual report that includes 15 proposals for standard ESG key figures for companies' environmental and climate impact and for their social and management commitment, which large Danish companies are invited to include in the annual report. The report is also available in an English language version and can be accessed here.

GRI has signed a collaboration agreement with the Indonesian Government that commits to support and provide the reporting frameworks for the country’s commitments to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Aim of the agreement is to promote SDG reporting by publicly listed companies by using the GRI Standards. Please see the press release on the GRI website.

GRI also announces that the three universal standards and all 33 topic-specific standards have been published in Italian and are now freely available for any Italian speaking organisation to download and use. Please click for more information on the GRI website.

The Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB) announces that its TCFD Implementation Guide is now also available in a Japanese translation. Please click for more information on the CDSB website.

The United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) initiative and the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) have signed an exchange of letters formalising how the two organisations will work together in the future. The exchange of letters also outlines potential areas of further collaboration including building capacity and providing technical assistance to stock exchanges on ESG disclosure. Please click for more information on the SSE website.

The SSE member Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE) has published a new set of guidelines for reporting ESG information to investors. Please click for more information on the SSE website.

Presentations at ISAR 36

04 Nov 2019

The thirty-sixth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting (ISAR) was held in Geneva on 30 October - 1 November 2019. Presentations from the meeting are now available on the ISAR website.

The two main topics for the meeting were:

  • Practical implementation, including measurement, of core indicators for entity reporting on the contribution towards the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals
  • Review of current developments in international standards of accounting and reporting in the public and private sectors

The background papers for these two topics are available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Spanish, and Russian and can be accessed here (please click on the "Documents" tab).

Speakers at ISAR 36 included Chungwoo Suh, IASB member as well as representatives of AOSSG, EFRAG, PAFA, IPSASB, SASB, UNCTAD, and ACCA. All 42 presentations from the meeting are available here (please click on the "Presentations" tab).

The workshop before the ISAR meeting this year focused on "Practical implementation of climate-related financial disclosures and their relationship to the SDGs“. Speakers included representatives of CDSB, SASB, the European Commission, EFRAG, ACCA, WBCSD, and UNCTAD. All presentations from the workshop are available here (please click on the "Presentations" tab).

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