On the Board's timelines in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the staff recommended that the Board:

• (a) delay by one year the effective date of Classification of Liabilities as Current or Non-current (Amendments to IAS 1) to annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2023.
• (b) extend the consultation period by (approximately) three months for the following consultation documents:
  • the Exposure Draft General Presentation and Disclosures;
  • the Request for Information Comprehensive Review of the IFRS for SMEs Standard; and
  • the Discussion Paper Business Combinations—Disclosures, Goodwill and Impairment.

All Board members agreed with the staff recommendations and also agreed that the exposure draft on delaying the effective date of the IAS 1 amendments should have a comment period of 30 days. The Board gave the permission to begin the balloting process for the exposure draft and no Board member intends to dissent.

On accounting for COVID-19-related rent concessions, the staff recommended that the Board amend IFRS 16 to provide lessees with an exemption from assessing whether a COVID-19-related rent concession is a lease modification. Entities applying the exemption would account for the changes as if they were not lease modifications. The exemption would have to be applied retrospectively but comparative figures would not be restated. A lessee would recognise any difference arising on initial application of the amendment in opening retained earnings (or other component of equity, as appropriate) in the annual reporting period that includes the date of initial application.

All Board members agreed with the staff recommendations and also agreed that the exemption would be effective immediately, when the final amendment is issued. The Board will ask the Trustees to approve a comment period of 14 days. The Board gave the permission to begin the balloting process for the exposure draft and no Board member intends to dissent. 

Note: The shortened comment periods for both exposure drafts were discussed in a DPOC call yesterday.

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

The new question

• highlights the main principles of the APM Guidelines;
• encourages issuers to use caution when adjusting APMs and when including new APMs to address the impact of COVID-19; and
• invites issuers to provide
  • narrative information regarding the modifications made, the assumptions used and the impact of COVID-19; and
  • information on measures taken or expected to be taken by issuers to address the impact that the COVID-19 outbreak may have in their operations and performance.

Please click to access the updated document on the ESMA website.

The Committee will discuss the following:

• Administrative matters
• IAS 12 — Multiple Tax Consequences of Recovering an Asset
• Supply Chain Financing — Reverse Factoring
• Work in progress

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.

At tomorrow's meeting, the IASB will discuss a staff recommendation that the IASB delay by one year the effective date of Classification of Liabilities as Current or Non-current (Amendments to IAS 1) to annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2023. The delay would require publishing an exposure draft and the staff recommend the changed effective date be exposed with a 30 day comment period. The DPOC followed the staff's explanation that this is a simple amendment and that stakeholders would not be unduly burdened in responding on an accelerated timeframe and would benefit from clarity being available rather sooner than later. All DPOC members voted to approve the 30-day comment period should the IASB decide to move forward with an exposure draft.

The staff also recommend that the IASB amend IFRS 16 Leases to provide lessees with an exemption from assessing whether a COVID-19-related rent concession is a lease modification. The staff recommend that the Board ask the Trustees to approve a 14-day comment period for the proposed amendment. (A comment period of less than 30 days cannot be approved by the DPOC alone, it requires approval of 75% of Trustees.) As the amendment would need to be finalised quickly so that it would benefit a large number of entities and also be available for entities with March 2020 year-ends (the staff think it would be possible to finalise an amendment to IFRS 16 by the end of May 2020), the DPOC agreed unanimously to recommend to the Trustees to approve a 14-day comment period should the IASB decide to move forward with an exposure draft. There will be a non-public Trustee meeting tomorrow.

Note: On 17 April 2020, the IFRS Foundation published a written report of the meeting, which is available here.

The DPOC will discuss:

• Proposed shortened comment letter periods for potential exposure drafts on (1) Classification of Liabilities as Current or Non-current (Amendments to IAS 1) and (2) IFRS 16 Leases related to covid-19 related rent concessions.
• Updated on the Due Process Handbook review.

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

The IFRS Foundation is seeking four Trustees: one from Europe, two from the Americas and one from the At Large category. Trustees’ responsibilities include oversight of the organisation in the public interest, its strategic direction, appointments to the Board, the IFRS Interpretations Committee and the IFRS Advisory Council, and ensuring the financing of the organisation and approving its budget. The role description notes:

Qualified candidates should have top-level experience in an organisation with an interest in accounting standards. They should demonstrate a firm commitment to serving the public interest, to the work of the Foundation and to the Board as a high quality global standard-setter. They should be financially knowledgeable and be able to meet the time commitment, which includes, but is not limited to, at least three three-day meetings each year. Trustees should have an understanding of, and be sensitive to, the challenges associated with the adoption and application of high quality global accounting standards developed for use in the world’s capital markets as well as to relevant current issues such as the impact of new technologies on corporate reporting, the development of non-financial reporting and changes in investors and markets demands.

Please click to access the press release on the IASB website.

Accounting for COVID-19-related rent concession: The staff recommend that the Board amend IFRS 16 to provide lessees with an exemption from assessing whether a COVID-19-related rent concession is a lease modification. Entities applying the exemption would account for the changes as if they were not lease modifications. The exemption would have to be applied retrospectively but comparative figures would not be restated. A lessee would recognise any difference arising on initial application of the amendment in opening retained earnings (or other component of equity, as appropriate) in the annual reporting period that includes the date of initial application. The exemption would be effective immediately, when the final amendment is issued.

The staff also recommend that the Board ask the Trustees to approve a 14-day comment period for the proposed amendment. The staff think it would be possible to finalise an amendment to IFRS 16 by the end of May 2020, if the Board agrees with its recommendations and the Trustees approve a 14-day comment period.

Board timelines, impact of COVID-19: The staff set out proposed changes to project timelines, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some projects continue to be high priority despite the unprecedented global crisis including the project on IBOR Phase 2 and the project on amendments to IFRS 17.

The staff recommend that the Board:

• (a) delay by one year the effective date of Classification of Liabilities as Current or Non-current (Amendments to IAS 1) to annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2023.
• (b) extend the consultation period by (approximately) three months for the following consultation documents:
  • the Exposure Draft General Presentation and Disclosures;
  • the Request for Information Comprehensive Review of the IFRS for SMEs Standard; and
  • the Discussion Paper Business Combinations—Disclosures, Goodwill and Impairment.

The publication dates of forthcoming major consultation documents planned for 2020 will also be delayed.

For the delay in the IAS 1 amendment the staff recommend the changed effective date be exposed with a 30 day comment period.

The full agenda for the meeting and our pre-meet­ing summaries can be found here. We will update this page for any changes to the agenda and our Deloitte observer notes from the meeting as they become available.

Similar to the guidance on IFRS 9 published in March, the new guidance on IFRS 16 Leases is intended to support the consistent application of requirements in IFRSs. Therefore, it highlights requirements within IFRS 16 and other IFRSs that are relevant for companies considering how to account for rent concessions granted as a result of the covid-19 pandemic; it does not change, remove nor add to, the requirements of IFRS 16. Please click to access the document on the IASB website. The IASB has also announced that the issue will be discussed by the IASB in a supplementary meeting on 17 April.

At the meeting, the IASB will also discuss:

• whether to propose a deferral by one year to 1 January 2023 of the effective date of the amendments to IAS 1 regarding the classification of liabilities;
• whether to extend the consultation period for three major ongoing consultations (the ED General Presentation and Disclosures, the RfI Comprehensive Review of the IFRS for SMEs Standard, and the DP Business Combinations — Disclosures, Goodwill and Impairment) by three months; and
• delaying the publication of forthcoming major consultation documents originally planned for 2020.

The Appendix A of agenda paper 32 for the meeting offers a tabular overview over the proposed changes to consultation document timelines.

The Board will discuss the following:

• Management Commentary
• Financial instruments with characteristics of equity
• Maintenance and consistent application
• Post-implementation review of IFRS 10–12
• Disclosure Initiative—Subsidiaries that are SMEs
• Amendments to IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts (oral update)
• SME Standard review and update

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.

The significance of the individual issues discussed in the webcasts will vary by industry and by entity, but we believe that the topics covered will be the most pervasive and difficult to address. The first webcast in the series discusses judgements and estimates, events after the reporting period and non-financial assets within the scope of IAS 36. Further webcasts will be made available over time.

Please click here to find an overview of the webcasts that have been published so far.