Matters discussed include:

• Roundtable on Consistent Application of IFRSs (click for Info on the Roundtable)
• IFRIC working procedures and due process (see our news story of 7 May 2006.
• Equivalence between IFRSs and third country GAAP, in particular US GAAP
• IASB financing
• Update on the Commission's project to consolidate the various Regulations by which IFRSs have been endorsed in the past into a single Regulation containing all endorsed IFRSs
• Creation of a 'Standards Advice Review Group'. The ARC summary states:

  "The creation of the Group was foreseen in the Commission-EFRAG Working Arrangement signed earlier this year. It had not been possible to formally adopt EFRAG as a technical committee of the Commission and this working arrangement had been the alternative, suitable compromise."

• Service concession arrangements
• Segment reporting

The next ARC meeting is planned for 26 September 2006.

We have updated our Summary of Issues Not Added to IFRIC's Agenda to reflect IFRIC's final decision in July 2006 not to add the following topic to its agenda:

• IAS 17 Leases – Recognition of contingent rentals

The IFRIC did not finalise its rejection of a topic related to IFRS 2 Share-based Payment – Fair value Measurement of Post-vesting Transfer Restrictions, which the IFRIC had proposed to reject in March 2006. Instead, the IFRIC re-exposed its reasons for rejection in the July 2006 Edition of IFRIC Update (downloadable from the IASB website).

Network firms are required to be independent of an audit client of another firm within the network. Under the revised definition, a network firm is a firm or entity that belongs to a network. A firm can be a sole practitioner, partnership, or corporation of professional accountants or an entity that controls or is controlled by such parties. A network is a larger structure:

• that is aimed at co-operation, and
• that is clearly aimed at profit or cost sharing or shares common ownership, control or management, common quality control policies and procedures, common business strategy, the use of a common brand-name, or a significant part of professional resources.

The revised definition is effective for assurance reports dated on or after 31 December 2008. Click for the IFAC Press Release (PDF 79k), which includes a link to download the revisions.

The changes would affect disclosure in proxy statements, annual reports, and registration statements, as well as the current reporting of compensation arrangements. The rules would require that most of this disclosure be provided in plain English. Click for (PDF 69k). In announcing the new disclosure requirements, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said:

With more than 20,000 comments, and counting, it is now official that no issue in the 72 years of the Commission's history has generated such interest. The better information that both shareholders and boards of directors will get as a result of these new rules will help them make better decisions about the appropriate amount to pay the men and women entrusted with running their companies. Shareholders need intelligible disclosure that can be understood by a lay reader without benefit of specialized expertise or the need for an advanced degree. It's our job to see that they get it.

The guide is non-authoritative. The IAASB has issued it in the interest of seeking a common understanding among national standard setters, regulators, and the public, regarding the circumstances that the IAASB believes should exist before a national standard setter may assert that its standards conform to the IAASB's International Standards.

Click to Download the Policy Guide from the IAASB's website (PDF 174k).

 

The newsletter reports on the 2nd quarter 2006 activities of the IASB, the IFRIC, and the IASC Foundation, and also on worldwide issues and events relating to international financial reporting. The Asia-Pacific edition has the same 28-page news content as the Global Edition plus 10 more pages of accounting standards updates for the Asia-Pacific region.

• (PDF 311k)
• (PDF 373k)

You will find all Past IAS Plus Issues Here. Sign up for Free Subscription by Email.

Starting with July 2006, these webcasts will be conducted two or three times each year and will focus on the latest developments in IFRSs and UK GAAP. The eighteenth session was run on Thursday 27 July 2006. The content for this webcast was:

• recent IASB proposals (IFRS 2, IAS 14, IAS 32, IAS 1, IAS 23)
• narrative reporting update (OFRs, EBRs)
• recent IFRIC and UITF activity (IFRICs 8 to 10)
• IFRS 7 Financial Instruments: Disclosures (practical issues)
• other UK matters (proposed pension disclosures, group accounts exemption, auditors' remuneration disclosure)

To access the recording Click Here. The recording is no longer available online.

These alerts will highlight new, emerging, or otherwise noteworthy circumstances that may affect how auditors conduct audits under the existing requirements of PCAOB standards and relevant laws. The PCAOB has issued Staff Audit Practice Alert No. 1 addresses "Matters Relating to Timing and Accounting for Options Grants". It was prompted by recent reports and disclosures about issuer practices related to the granting of stock options, including the backdating of such grants. The alert advises auditors that these practices may have implications for audits of financial statements or of internal control over financial reporting and discusses factors that may be relevant in assessing the risks related to these matters. Click for:

• (PDF 89k)
• (PDF 58k)
• (PDF 113k) reviewing the PCAOB's new guidance

These documents, identical in all significant respects, are the first in a series of expected publications that are part of a joint project to replace the two boards' separate conceptual frameworks. The IASB Discussion Paper and the FASB Preliminary Views document can be downloaded from the boards' websites: www.iasb.org and www.fasb.org.

Hewitt currently chairs the audit committees of Varian, Inc., North Bay Bancorp, S&P; Co., and Pabst Brewing Co. From 1995 to 1998, he was California Superintendent of Banking and Commissioner of the California Department of Financial Institutions. From 1972 to 1995, Mr. Hewitt was the Managing Partner of Ernst & Young, and its predecessor firm, Ernst & Ernst, in the firm's Northern California (1986-95), Seattle (1979-86), and Honolulu (1972-79) regions. Click for SEC Press Release.