Specif­i­cally, the podcast discusses:

• ISSB’s first meeting at its Beijing office and the first Beijing International Sustainability Conference.
• GRI’s Sustainability Innovation Lab.
• Foundational work keeping technical staff busy.
• Technical discussions at November board week.

For more in­for­ma­tion and access to the podcast, see the press release on the IFRS Foun­da­tion’s website.

This second report complements the observations included in the first IFRS 9 monitoring report published in November 2021. It focuses on high default portfolios and aims to promote further improvements in the expected credit loss (ECL) model practices among EU institutions by providing transparency on the major areas of concern identified by the EBA.

The report states:

• ECL models now lead to timelier recognition of loss provisions. However, most findings confirm previously raised issues and some divergence with the EBA’s expectations on IFRS 9 implementation.
• Overlays are becoming an integral part of the ECL framework and therefore, more efforts are needed to reduce the high degree of judgment for their calibration. Their usage under robust methodological and sound governance frameworks needs to be better framed.
• Backtesting is a key area that requires further investments by institutions to enlarge scope and robustness of the analysis and to improve the use of the backtesting results for the periodic review of IFRS 9 models.

Please click to access the full report on the EBA website.

These insights will guide the ISSB's two-year work plan, with plans to finalize both initiatives in the first half 2024. The week included engagements with key stakeholders, such as the World Resources Institute and the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants, exploring the implementation of ISSB standards in China. ISSB Chair, Emmanuel Faber, highlighted global progress at the China Listed Companies Sustainable Development Conference, emphasizing a global-baseline of sustainability-related financial disclosure. The week culminated in the inaugural Beijing International Sustainability Conference, where leaders underscored the need for concerted action to align with ISSB standards.

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

A summary of the agenda is set out below:

Agenda papers for the meeting are available on the IFRS Foun­da­tion website.

A summary of the agenda is set out below:

Agenda papers for the meeting are available on the IFRS Foundation website.

While the FRC identified examples of good practice, there is scope for improvement under IFRS 17 in the following key areas:

• Providing quantitative and qualitative disclosures, that are company-specific, enabling users to understand how insurance contracts are measured and presented in the financial statements.
• Ensuring that accounting policies are sufficiently granular and provide clear, consistent explanations of accounting policy choices, key judgements and methodologies, particularly where IFRS 17 is not prescriptive.
• Avoiding any boiler plate wording - narrative should always reflect the company’s particular circumstances.

The full review is available on the FRC website.

The meeting focused on feedback on the proposals in the Exposure Draft Regulatory Assets and Regulatory Liabilities related to discounting estimated future cash flows and the development of staff recommendations for the IASB.

The meeting summary is available on the IFRS Foun­da­tion’s website.

The following topic is on the agenda:

ISSB Consultation on Agenda Priorities: The ISSB will receive a summary of the feedback received in response to its Request for Information Consultation on Agenda Priorities. Respondents were mostly supportive of the ISSB’s planned activities, with IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 implementation support receiving the highest priority. Most respondents agreed with the ISSB’s proposed criteria used to evaluate potential new research or standard-setting projects for its work plan. There was no clear consensus on the number and mix of research projects to be included in the work plan and the staff will perform a detailed analysis of the feedback to create recommendations for the ISSB at a future meeting. Respondents suggested that the ISSB should approach any research project holistically, rather than prioritising subtopics. Feedback received on the proposed research project on integration with financial reporting will be evaluated in conjunction with the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) at a future meeting.

IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Taxonomy: The staff will provide a summary of the feedback received in response to the proposed IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Taxonomy. Almost all respondents agreed the proposed Taxonomy appropriately reflects the requirements in IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 and will enable digital reporting of sustainability-related financial disclosures. The staff plans to recommend any changes to the Taxonomy in the December 2023 meeting and aims to publish the final taxonomy in the first half of 2024.

Our pre-meet­ing summaries is available on our November meeting notes page and will be sup­ple­mented with our popular meeting notes after the meeting.

Trustees meeting

Meeting activities included the following:

• Reports of the Chair of the Trustees and the Managing Director
• Sustainability assurance
• Report of the Chair of the IASB
• Refreshing the IASB Strategy — 'Generation 3’
• Multi-location model
• Report of the Chair of the ISSB
• ISSB adoption strategy
• Update on funding of the ISSB and report of the Funding Committee
• Primary financial statements
• Structured approach for working with the global academic community
• IFRS Foundation Transitional Advisory Group
• Reports from the Trustee Committee meetings
• Stakeholder engagement
• Meeting with the Monitoring Board

DPOC meeting

Meeting activities included the following:

• IASB-related matters
  • Update on IASB technical activities
  • Due process ‘lifecycle’ review of the development of IFRS 18
  • IASB consultative groups — annual review
  • IASB and Interpretations Committee annual reporting protocol
  • Educational material on IFRS Accounting Standards — review of due process
• ISSB-related matters
  • Update on ISSB technical activities
  • ISSB Consultative Groups — annual review
  • ISSB annual reporting protocol
• Updating the Due Process Handbook
• Correspondence

For more information, see the summary of both meetings on the IFRS Foundation’s website.

High-level speakers from the financial and sustainability reporting sectors will provide their views and share thoughts during three panel discussions on major topics:

• Implementation support for ESRS
• European Sustainability Standards for SMEs
• Connectivity: Building bridges

Mairead McGuinness, European Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union, will provide a keynote speech.

Please click for the full programme and registration here.

Note: On 14 March 2024, EFRAG released a summary report, videos and photos from the event.