News

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Growing support to adopt IAS 39 in Australia

11 Sep 2001

An Article in the Melbourne Age highlights the issues.

There's also a follow-up story.
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Four day IASB meeting begins today

10 Sep 2001

IASB will hold an open meeting today and tomorrow with the chairs of national standard-setters representing Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and United States.

Issues to be discussed include first-time application of IAS, business combinations, share-based payments, and improvements to IASB Standards. The Board will then meet for three days (12-13 September) to deliberate various Technical Agenda Projects. Check back here each day for brief summaries of the discussions.
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IAS 40 and long-term leases of land

10 Sep 2001

As a result of IAS 40, Investment Property, Hong Kong Land Company, which prepares IAS financial statements, has switched to a cost/depreciation reporting model for investment properties from its prior full fair value model.

IAS 40, in combination with IAS 17.11, prohibits the revaluation of leased land. The effect of the change was to eliminate US$4.2 billion (81%) of shareholders' equity at 31 December 2000. In Hong Kong (and elsewhere, including China) nearly all land is leased from the government under long-term leases rather than owned outright. Hong Kong Land says it cannot reliably value the buildings apart from the land. In its first-half 2001 financial report, Hong Kong Land presented, in addition to its primary cost/depreciation model financial statements, supplementary financial information prepared "in accordance with IAS as modified by the revaluation of leasehold properties", with value changes reported in net profit or loss. This method increased net profit for 2000 from US$0.3 billion to US$2.2 billion. Revaluation of long leases of land was an issue considered by the IASC in developing IAS 40, but IASC concluded that it should reconsider IAS 17.11 separately and not as part of the investment property project. Click for Link to Hong Kong Land Website. IASB has indicated that it will be addressing long leases of land as part of its Improvements Project.
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Some facts about our last 15,000 visitors

06 Sep 2001

Which browser do they use? 89% use Internet Explorer (nearly 90% of those version 5.x) 10% use Netscape (nearly all of those version 4.x.

Netscape 6.x is just 0.09%) Which operating system?
  • Windows 98: 50%
  • Windows NT: 19%
  • Windows 2000: 15%
  • Windows 95: 14% (Total for Windows: 98%)
  • Macintosh: 0.3%
  • Others: 2%
    • FEI (Financial Executives International) (lt green) Image

    FEI conference to highlight international accounting issues

    04 Sep 2001

    The Current Financial Reporting Issues Conference organised by Financial Executives International is one of the major annual US symposiums on accounting and finance.

    The programme for this year's conference, to be held 12-13 November in New York, includes:
    • Keynote Address: "Global Accounting Standards" by Paul Volcker, Chairman, Trustees, IASC Foundation
    • A General Session on "Implications of IAS for US Companies and Capital Markets"
    In its response to the SEC Concepts Release on IAS, FEI said [click for full text (PDF 89k)]:

    FEI believes that US capital markets are better served by having foreign registrants use an investor-oriented accounting model like IAS in the primary financial statements rather than providing bits and pieces of financial data that reconcile to US GAAP supplementally. We also believe that the expanded use of IAS in world markets, which is much more likely to occur with SEC acceptance in the US, will further improve the comparability of financial results between US and foreign companies. We would therefore support the Commission's acceptance of IAS for use in US capital markets, provided that the following additional steps are taken:

    • Limit the choices of GAAP available to foreign registrants to two: US GAAP or IAS.
    • Require that foreign registrants comply fully with the same regulations that apply to US public companies, including reporting US or IAS GAAP financial statements for all interim periods.
    • Actively support processes that will accelerate the development of a single set of global accounting standards that will be used in all securities markets.
    • Ensure that US and foreign registrants are treated equally in all respects under federal securities laws, including the right of all registrants to follow IAS standards.
    • Require that these changes be effected over a time frame of no greater than five years and do not 'grandfather' existing foreign registrants.

     

     

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    FASB to discuss IASB initial agenda

    03 Sep 2001

    In an open meeting starting at 9:30 a.m.

    on Wednesday, 5 September 2001, the US Financial Accounting Standards Board will discuss the initial agenda of the International Accounting Standards Board and "the possibilities for cooperation between the FASB and the IASB on agenda topics of mutual interest".
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    IOSCO to survey members about implementation of IAS

    03 Sep 2001

    IOSCO intends to survey its members by the end of 2001 regarding their implementation of the Resolutions Adopted by the IOSCO Presidents' Committee in May 2000 relating to the use of international accounting standards for cross-border offerings and listings.

    Nearly 110 national securities regulatory commissions are members of IOSCO.
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    Full fair value accounting for financial instruments

    02 Sep 2001

    Veronica Poole and Ken Wild of Deloitte & Touche, United Kingdom, have co-authored A Practitioner's Guide to Full Fair Value Accounting of Financial Instruments.

    Their aim is to explain the Joint Working Group Proposal including practical examples of how it would work. More information may be found by searching the web for the book title or ISBN:189883041X.
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    IASB will meet with national standard setters

    29 Aug 2001

    The IASB will meet with representatives of eight national accounting standard setters in London on 10-11 September to continue to develop a programme of partnership on certain technical agenda projects.

    The goal is convergence of national and international accounting standards. This is the second such meeting. In May, discussion centred on the following possible partnership approach:
    • IASB and the national standard setters would agree on convergence projects and, to the extent possible, each would place them on their agendas.
    • One national standard setter would be the leader on a project, one or more others would agree to provide project support resources, and one or more others would agree to be consultants.
    • Flexibility would be needed to accommodate the varied due processes of the national standard setters.
    Specific projects that will be discussed with the national standard-setters at the 10-11 September meeting are:
    • First-Time Application of IAS
    • Business Combinations
    • Share-Based Payments
    • Improvements to IASB Standards
    IASB will meet on its own on 12-13 September when it is scheduled to discuss:
    • Business Combinations
    • Share-Based Payments
    • Insurance Contracts
    • First-Time Application of IAS
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    Japan's new Accounting Standards Board is in place

    25 Aug 2001

    A consortium of 10 private sector organisations, including Keidanren, JICPA, and the Tokyo Stock Exchange, have created a new Japan Accounting Standards Board (ASB) and related oversight foundation known as the Financial Accounting Standards Foundation (FASF).

    Thirteen persons were appointed to ASB, of whom three serve full time. An Advisory Council will also be created. The organisation is expected to be self-funding through membership fees. Stated objectives:

    The objectives of the FASF are to promote progress of corporate finance disclosure and soundness of the capital markets in Japan by developing generally accepted accounting standards. The FASF will also contribute to the development of a high quality set of internationally accepted accounting standards.

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