February

Summary of the December 2019 ASAF meeting now available

14 Feb 2020

The IASB staff have published a summary of the Accounting Standards Advisory Forum (ASAF) meeting held in London on 17 December 2019.

The topics covered during the meeting were the following (numbers in brackets are references to the corresponding paragraphs of the summary):

  • Agenda Consultation (1–11): The ASAF discussed potential financial reporting priorities for the Board to discuss in the request for information. As high-level recommendations ASAF members stated that the Board should communicate its resource capacity in the RFI, that the Board should prioritise post-implementation reviews and the completion of existing major projects, and should also prioritise the effects of technology and digital reporting on standard-setting.
  • Post-implementation review of IFRS 10, IFRS 11, and IFRS 12 (12–18): The ASAF was given an update on the feedback received from outreach in Phase 1 of the post-implementation review and commented on potential issues to be considered in the RFI.
  • Accounting for intangible assets (19–28): The KASB gave a presentation on its research project on exploring a way to complement financial statements with a separate statement that identifies core intangibles and presents their value.
  • IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts (29–35): The ASAF received an overview of the feedback on the exposure draft Amendments to IFRS 17 and was updated on the preliminary decisions of the Board at the November and December 2019 meetings.
  • Agenda planning (36–38) — The ASAF discussed the proposed agenda for its April 2020 meeting.

A full summary of the meeting is available on the IASB's website.

Report from the December 2019 Emerging Economies Group meeting

12 Feb 2020

The 18th meeting of the IASB's Emerging Economies Group (EEG) was held Xiamen, China on 2–4 December 2019. The IASB has published a full report from the meeting.

Participants at the meeting, which was chaired by IASB member Darrel Scott, discussed primary financial statements, the IBOR reform, the review of the IFRS for SMEs, the Due Process Handbook Review, IAS 16 and proceeds before the intended use, the 2020 Agenda consultation, China’s experience on implementing IFRS 9, and extractive activities.

The next meeting of the EEG will be held in South Africa on 11–13 May 2020.

Please click for access to the full report (eight pages) on the IASB website.

IASB posts webinar on exposure draft on general presentation and disclosures, announces Japanese language presentation

11 Feb 2020

The IASB has posted a webinar on Exposure Draft, ‘General Presentation and Disclosures’.

The webinar summarises main proposals in the exposure draft, including subtotals in the statement of profit and loss, disaggregating information, and management performance measures.

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

In addition, the IASB hosted a similar webinar in the Japanese language on 19 February 2020. Please click here to view this webinar.

Agenda for the February 2020 DPOC meeting

11 Feb 2020

The Trustees of the IFRS Foundation will be meeting in Brussels from 18 to 20 February 2020. However, only the meeting of the Due Process Oversight Committee (DPOC) on 18 February will be held in public.

The agenda for the DPOC meeting is summarised below.

Tuesday, 18 February 2020 (9:45–10:50)

  • Introduction and actions from the DPOC meeting held on 15 October 2019 and the public call held on 16 December 2019
  • Technical activities: Key issues and update
  • Five-yearly consultation on the IASB work programme - update on progress
  • IBOR phase 2
  • ITCG membership
  • Review of the Due Process Handbook
  • Correspondence
  • Summary

Agenda papers for the meeting are available on the IASB website.

IFRS Foundation appoints new Chair of the IFRS Advisory Council

11 Feb 2020

The Trustees of the IFRS Foundation have announced that Bill Coen has been appointed as new Chair of the IFRS Advisory Council.

Mr Coen follows Joanna Perry whose term ended in December 2019. He was Secretary General of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision from 2014 to 2019 and Deputy Secretary General from 2007 to 2014. Mr Coen served on the IFRS Advisory Council from 2016 until 2019.

Mr Coen has been appointed for 12 months and can be reappointed once. At the end of phase, the Trustees intend to appoint a new Chair through a public nomination process.

Please click for more information in the press release on the IASB website.

European Reporting Lab issues report on climate-related disclosures

06 Feb 2020

The European Lab Project Task Force on Climate-related Reporting has issued, ‘How to improve climate-related reporting — A summary of good practices from Europe and beyond’.

The report provides an analysis of the current state of climate-related reporting of approximately 150 European companies and focuses on “identifying good reporting practices and assessing the level of maturity in the implementation of the TCFD recommendations, while also taking into consideration the climate-related reporting elements of the NFRD and the related non-binding Guidelines on non-financial reporting and Guidelines on reporting climate-related information.” In additional, the European Lab Project Task Force has issued two supplement documents which complement the report with detailed findings and in-depth review of scenario analysis reporting.

For more information, see the press release and summary brochure on the EFRAG’s Web site as well as this page offering access to the three documents.

GPPC issues implementation considerations for IFRS 17

06 Feb 2020

The Global Public Policy Committee (GPPC) have issued two papers related to the implementation of IFRS 17, 'Insurance Contracts'.

The first paper, Implementation of IFRS 17 'Insurance Contracts': Considerations for those charged with governance, can help those charged with governance evaluate management's progress towards implementation and assess their external auditors' general readiness to audit the context of IFRS 17.

The second paper, Implementation of IFRS 17 'Insurance Contracts': Companion document on key judgements and accounting policy choices, is a companion document to Implementation of IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts: Considerations for those charged with governance January 2020. This paper focuses on key judgements and accounting policy choices faced by insurers related to the adoption of IFRS 17.

January 2020 IASB meeting notes posted

05 Feb 2020

The IASB met on 28–30 January 2020 to discuss twelve topics. We have posted our comprehensive Deloitte observer notes for all projects discussed during the meeting.

Provisions: The Board decided to add a project to amend IAS 37 to align the IAS 37 liability definition and requirements for identifying liabilities with the Conceptual Framework (including potentially withdrawing IFRIC 21); clarifying which costs to include in the measure of a provision; and specifying whether the rate at which an entity discounts a provision for the time value of money should reflect the entity’s own credit risk.

Amendments to IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts: The Board discussed some of the topics for which it had decided to consider the feedback from respondents further:

  • the scope exclusion from IFRS 17 for some credit card contracts (decided to confirm the proposed scope exclusion with some changes);
  • Transition—the prohibition from applying the risk mitigation option retrospectively (decided to retain, unchanged);
  • Business combinations—contracts acquired in their settlement period (decided to retain, unchanged);
  • Interim Financial Statements (decided to change the requirements); and
  • Asset for insurance acquisition cash flows—transition and business combinations (decided to change the requirements).

IBOR Reform and the Effects on Financial Reporting: The Board considered, and supported, the  recommendation from the staff in relation to the end of application of the Phase 1 exceptions from specific hedge accounting requirements in IFRS 9 and IAS 39 in the context of interest rate benchmark reform (IBOR reform); the potential effects of IBOR reform on IFRS Standards other than those related to financial instruments accounting; and potential disclosure requirements to accompany the tentative decisions the Board has made during Phase 2 of the IBOR project.

Pension Benefits that Depend on Asset Returns: The Board supported the direction the staff are taking in the project to consider amending IAS 19 to cap the projected cash flows when benefits vary with the level of returns on specified assets, so that they do not exceed the discount rate specified by IAS 19. The change would be to address the inconsistency in IAS 19 that the variability (risk) in the future asset returns is reflected only in the cash flows and not in the discount rate applied to those cash flows.

Disclosure Initiative: The Board continued its discussions of potential revisions to the disclosure requirements in IAS 19 and decided to refine some of its tentative decisions relating to defined benefit plans, multi-employer plans and group plans. 

IFRS 3 reference to the Conceptual Framework: The Board decided to finalise the amendments to update the references to the Conceptual Framework in IFRS 3 with an effective date of the amendments of 1 January 2022. The new references would apply to business combinations that occur in any annual reporting period starting after that date, with earlier application permitted.

Subsidiaries that are SMEs: The Board decided to develop an ED as soon as possible proposing reduced disclosure requirements for subsidiaries that are SMEs.

Business Combinations under Common Control: The Board has decided that the acquisition method, as set out in IFRS 3, should be required for listed acquirers that have NCI. They have received feedback from some sectors that a predecessor approach should apply to all common-control business combinations. The staff recommend no change to the decisions already made.  The staff also set out their recommendations for recognition and measurement applying a predecessor approach.

The staff gave updates on:

  • the feedback received on the proposed update to the IFRS Taxonomy to reflect the amendments made to IFRS Standards in 2019 in response to IBOR reforms;
  • the ED for rate-regulated activities (publication of the ED is now expected in the second half of 2020 rather than in Q2);
  • work being undertaken on research projects and the research pipeline; and
  • recent activities of the IFRS Interpretations Committee.

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

EFRAG issues academic report on intangibles

05 Feb 2020

The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has issued an academic report, 'A Literature Review on the Reporting of Intangibles'.

The report focused on literature published since 2007 and covered the following areas:

  • Intangibles in a macro-perspective;
  • Unaccounted intangibles and their impact on the relevance of financial reporting;
  • Information on specific unaccounted intangibles and its impact on company performance, market value, and users;
  • Information on intellectual capital and its effects on company performance, market value, and users;
  • Frameworks and models for measuring and reporting on intangibles and their consequences on company performance, market value, and users.

For more information, see the press release and the academic report on the EFRAG’s website.

IASB issues podcast on latest Board developments (January 2020 Board meeting)

05 Feb 2020

The IASB has released a podcast, featuring IASB Vice-Chair Sue Lloyd and IASB Board member Nick Anderson, to discuss the deliberations at the January 2020 IASB meeting, matters raised by the IFRS Interpretation Committee, and the recently-issued request for information in the context of the comprehensive review of the IFRS for SMEs.

The 15-minute podcast features discussions related to:

  • Subsidiaries that are SMEs
  • Provisions
  • Pension benefits that depend on asset returns
  • Amendments to IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts
  • IBOR reform and the effects on financial reporting
  • Business combinations under common control
  • Disclosure initiative: Targeted standards-level review of disclosures
  • Matters raised by the IFRS Interpretation Committee
  • Request for information in the context of the comprehensive review of the IFRS for SMEs

The podcast can be accessed through the press release on the IASB website. More information on the topics discussed is available through our comprehensive notes taken by Deloitte observers at the January IASB meeting.

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