2019

Applicants invited for IFRS Interpretations Committee membership

12 Nov 2019

The Trustees of the IFRS Foundation have invited applications for candidates to fill two vacancies on the IFRS Interpretations Committee.

Specifically, the Trustees are seeking individuals who are not currently practicing at a Big Four accounting firm. Members are expected to attend ap­prox­i­mately six two-day meetings each year held in London. Terms of mem­ber­ship will begin immediately and will expire on 30 June 2022. Mem­ber­ship is unpaid, but the IFRS Foun­da­tion meets members' expenses of travel on IFRS IC business.

Ap­pli­ca­tions are accepted until 6 December 2019.

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

Communiqué from latest China-Japan-Korea accounting standard-setters meeting

11 Nov 2019

A communiqué has been issued from a meeting of the standard-setters from China, Japan and the Republic of Korea held in Tokyo on 1 November 2019.

Representatives were present from the Accounting Regulatory Department of the Chinese Ministry of Finance, the Accounting Standards Board of Japan (ASBJ), the Korea Accounting Standards Board (KASB), and the IASB, together with guests from Hong Kong and Macao.

At this meeting, the delegates from the three countries provided updates on the recent developments of accounting standards in their respective jurisdictions and had in-depth discussions on revenue recognition, primary financial statements, and leases.

Please click for the full communiqué (link to ASBJ website).

November 2019 IASB meeting agenda posted

08 Nov 2019

The IASB has posted the agenda for its next meeting, which will be held at its offices in London on 19–20 November 2019. There are six topics on the agenda.

The Board will discuss the following:

  • Subsidiaries that are SMEs.
  • Disclosure initiative.
  • IFRS 3 reference to the Conceptual Framework.
  • Management commentary.
  • Amendments to IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts.
  • Implementation matters — Lack of exchangeability (IAS 21), annual improvements, and cryptoassets.

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.

IFRS model financial statements 2019

08 Nov 2019

Deloitte's Global IFRS Office has released 'International GAAP Holdings Limited — Model financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2019'.

These financial statements illustrate the presentation and disclosure requirements of IFRSs for the year ended 31 December 2019 by an entity that is not a first-time adopter of IFRSs. They illustrate the impact of the application of IFRSs that are mandatorily effective for the annual period beginning on 1 January 2019.

The publication includes:

  • Consolidated statement of profit or loss and other comprehensive income
  • Consolidated statement of financial position
  • Consolidated statement of changes in equity
  • Consolidated statement of cash flows
  • Notes to the consolidated financial statements
  • Independent auditor’s report
  • Appendix 1 – Prior year adjustment

Please click to download the model financial statements here. The model financial statements illustrate the initial application of IFRS 16 Leases using a full retrospective approach. An appendix illustrating transitioning to IFRS 16 Leases using the cumulative catch-up approach is available here.

FASB Chairman discusses interrelation between standard-setting and XBRL

08 Nov 2019

At the XBRL US Investor Forum 2019 earlier this week, FASB Chairman Russell G. Golden explained how high-quality structured data helped take financial reporting to a higher plane and called structured data "the future of financial reporting".

In his speech, Mr Golden outlined how the FASB is using XBRL data to make better standard-setting decisions.

Mr Golden began by pointing out that the FASB had to learn how to fully reap the benefits of XBRL. When the FASB first took over the responsibility for the XBRL taxonomy, taxonomy development was separate from standard-setting. Only after an accounting standard was proposed and then issued, the changes required for the taxonomy were considered.

Today, the taxonomy and standard-setting teams work together to concurrently develop and issue accounting standards and matching taxonomy improvements. This allows taxonomy staff to provide the Board and technical staff with real-time input on how to optimise reporting requirements from a data modeling perspective. This, as Mr Golden pointed out, ultimately results in better standards and better coverage of their requirements in the taxonomy. In fact, he noted: "Today, my FASB colleagues and I frequently ask members of the XBRL team for data to help us better understand standard-setting issues." The FASB also initiated XBRL post-implementation review projects. These projects help the FASB understand whether the taxonomy meets its objectives and what areas the FASB may need to improve. They also alert the Board to areas of accounting guidance that might need clarification as the wording might not have been precise enough originally.

The FASB also uses structured data to inform its standard-setting process and uses XBRL research to develop and monitor implementation of its standards. Since 2012, the FASB has performed more than 175 research projects using XBRL data. The Board turns to XBRL data for information to develop proposals, for insights for ongoing deliberations, and to help companies implement standards.

An example Mr Golden cited was the new standard on leases, which took effect for public companies in early 2019. The FASB used XBRL data to understand how companies are applying the new standard and to identify where it may need to provide support or clarify guidance. So in 2019, the FASB paid close attention to first quarter filings. Specifically, it wanted to see if there were areas in need of more implementation support — from both a standard-setting and a taxonomy perspective. Thanks to XBRL, the FASB was able to gather detailed data on what publicly traded companies are disclosing about their operating lease liabilities, lease costs, and weighted average discount rates, among other data points. Mr Golden lauded the efficiency of using XBRL to compile and analyse this detailed information that will also help to proactively address issues that private companies and organizations may confront when they implement the standard in years to come.

However, as Mr Golden pointed out, not everyone has embraced structured data yet - academia for example has not. Mr Golden noted that here are significant advantages to using XBRL data in academic research. But the use of XBRL data in academia has lagged for several reasons. Most academics are unfamiliar with it. Many do not know how to access the data. Those who do access the data find the data set unwieldy and challenging to work with. And the risk of operator error is significant. For this reason, the FASB is working on hands-on training sessions to help academics use XBRL data in their research and in their classrooms. Ultimately, the FASB believes that this will promote increased use of XBRL in relevant academic research and in the classroom. And the FASB has a vested interest in this, as academic studies also help inform its standard-setting process.

Please see the full text of Mr Golden's speech on the FASB website.

New ICAI publications

08 Nov 2019

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has published three new Ind AS clarification bulletins, an updated quick referencer on Ind AS, and an exposure draft of proposed amendments in the context of the IBOR reform.

IFRS Foundation Trustees and Due Process Oversight Committee hold October 2019 meeting

07 Nov 2019

The IFRS Foundation Trustees and the Due Process Oversight Committee (DPOC) met in New York on 15–17 October 2019.

Meeting ac­tiv­i­ties included the following:

  • Executive session:
    • Report of the Executive Director — The Trustees received a report from the Executive Director Lee White on ac­tiv­i­ties since the last meeting.
    • Strategy review — The Trustees discussed non-financial reporting including sustainability reporting.
    • Gov­er­nance issues — The Trustees received a presentation on the annual Risk Review for the Foundation and discussed managing and mitigating risk.
    • Op­er­a­tions analysis — The Trustees received pre­sen­ta­tions on the work of the Foundation’s Legal and Compliance team.
    • Committee reports — The Trustees discussed reports from the Business Process and Technology Committee, the Audit and Finance Committee, the Human Capital Committee, the Nom­i­nat­ing Committee, and the DPOC. (A report of the DPOC meeting is attached to the meeting summary.)
  • IASB Chairman’s report — The Chair of the IASB provided the Trustees with a general update on the IASB’s technical ac­tiv­i­ties, es­pe­cially on the IBOR reform, proposed amendments to IFRS 17, accounting for goodwill, and the 2020 agenda consultation.
  • External engagement — The Trustees met with Nicolas Veron and Curtis Ravenel. In addition, they held a stakeholder event with the CFA Institute on how financial reporting can remain relevant in a changing world. The event featured a keynote speech by Bob Pozen and a panel discussion between IASB Chair Hans Hoogervorst and FASB Chair Russell Golden.

For more information, see the press release, which also offers an article on the stakeholder event, and the full summary on the IFRS Foun­da­tion Trustees’ and DPOC meeting on the IASB’s website.

IFRS Foundation appoints three new Trustees

07 Nov 2019

The IFRS Foundation has announced the appointment of Alexsandro Broedel, Joanna Perry, and Maria Theofilaktidis as Trustees of the IFRS Foundation. Their appointments will begin on 1 January 2020 and will expire on 31 December 2022.

Alexsandro Broedel is Group Executive Finance Director and Investor Relations Head at Itau Unibanco in Brazil.

Joanna Perry holds a variety of senior non-executive positions for both public and private organisations in New Zealand and is serving the last few weeks of her second term as Chair of the IFRS Advisory Council.

Maria Theofilaktidis is Executive Vice-President, Chief Compliance Officer and Head of Enterprise Risk for The Bank of Nova Scotia.

In addition, the current IFRS Foundation Trustees Else Bos, Su-Keun Kwak, and Guangyao Zhu have been reappointed to serve a second three-year term, also beginning on 1 January 2020.

For more information, see the press release on the IASB's website.

FRC publishes thematic review findings of IFRS 16 company disclosures

07 Nov 2019

The UK Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has published the results of a thematic review looking at the interim disclosures made by companies in the first year of application of IFRS 16 'Leases'.

The review identified that there are a number of areas where disclosure around IFRS 16 could be improved. Notwithstanding that half-yearly disclosures are less extensive than those of a full year, the FRC is of the opinion that “some companies did not sufficiently explain the impact of adopting IFRS 16”. The FRC expects that disclosures in full year reports will be more comprehensive.

Please click for the following additional information on the FRC website:

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.

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