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EFRAG meeting dates for 2006

18 Oct 2005

The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has announced its meeting dates for 2006: .

The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has announced its meeting dates for 2006:

  • 11-13 January 2006, Wednesday-Friday, TEG
  • 15-17 February 2006, Wednesday-Friday, TEG
  • 8-10 March 2006, Wednesday-Friday, ESS/TEG
  • 4-6 April 2006, Tuesday-Thursday, TEG
  • 17-19 May 2006, Wednesday-Friday, TEG
  • 13-15 June 2006, Tuesday-Thursday, ESS/TEG
  • 10-12 July 2006, Monday-Wednesday, TEG
  • 30-31 August and 1 September 2006, Wednesday-Friday, ESS/TEG
  • 11-13 October 2006, Wednesday-Friday, TEG
  • 7-9 November 2006, Tuesday-Thursday, TEG
  • 5-7 December 2006, Tuesday-Thursday, ESS/TEG
TEG=Technical Expert Group. ESS=European National Standard Setters
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Standards Advisory Council is restructured

17 Oct 2005

The Trustees of the IASC Foundation have announced the membership of the restructured Standards Advisory Council (SAC). The 40 appointments represent the third step taken by the trustees to make the SAC a more effective source of advice both to the Trustees and to the IASB.

Previous steps were the appointment of Nelson Carvalho of Brazil as the SAC's independent chairman and the adoption of terms of reference for the restructured SAC. SAC members and observers are listed below. Two Deloitte partners are included: Ingebret Hisdal, Managing Partner, Deloitte Norway, and Adir Inbar, Senior Audit Partner, Deloitte Israel. Click for Press Release (PDF 61k).

Membership of the Standards Advisory Council

Africa

  • Benoit Antoine Atangana Onana, President, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Cameroon; Senior Partner and General Manager, African Consulting Enterprise
  • Darrel Scott, Financial Officer, FirstRand Bank Limited, South Africa Asia-Oceania

Australia

  • Judith Downes, Chief Operating Officer, Institutional Division, ANZ Bank

China

  • Wang Jun, Secretary-General, China Accounting Standards Committee, Ministry of Finance, China
  • PM Kam, Group Financial Controller, Jardine Matheson Ltd., Hong Kong SAR

India

  • Shailesh Haribhakti, Managing Partner of Haribhakti & Co., and CEO of Haribhakti Group

Japan

  • Eiko Tsujiyama, Professor, Waseda University
  • Yoshiki Yagi, Board Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee, Hitachi

Korea

  • Suk-Jun Lee, Executive Director, Samsung Economic Research Institute

South-East Asia

  • Rifaat Ahmed Abdel Karim, Secretary-General, Islamic Financial Services Board
  • Danny Teoh, Managing Partner, KPMG Singapore Europe

European Union

  • Jose Antonio Alvarez, Chief Financial Officer, Group Santander (SCH), Spain
  • Philippe Danjou, Member, Financial Reporting Committee of the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR-fin); Director, Corporate Accounting, Autorite des Marches Financiers, France
  • Sarah Deans, Vice President, Corporate Research, Head of Accounting and Valuation Research, JP Morgan, United Kingdom
  • Anna di Michele Director, Products & Services - Active Advisory, UBS, Italy
  • Patrice Marteau, Chief Corporate Officer, PPR, France
  • Alberto Giussani, Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Italy
  • Mauro Grande Director, Financial Stability and Supervision, European Central Bank
  • David Lindsell, Global Director, IFRS Services, Ernst & Young, United Kingdom
  • Heinz-Joachim Neuburger, Executive Vice President and CFO, Siemens, Germany
  • Jochen Pape, Member of the Management Board, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Germany, and Head of the International Financial Reporting Centre, PwC Continental Europe
  • Kees Storm, Former Chairman, AEGON; Director of Laurus, Pon Holdings, Inbev, KLM, AEGON, Baxter International, The Netherlands

Other

  • Ingebret Hisdal, Managing Partner, Deloitte Norway
  • Vladimir Preobrazhenskiy, Deputy General Director for Economics and Finance, CFO, Siberian Coal Energy Company, Russia
  • Hugo Schaub, Group Controller and Member of the Group Management Board, UBS, Switzerland Latin America
  • Nelson Carvalho, SAC Chairman; Professor, University of SAo Paulo, Brazil, financial consultant and private investment banker, Brazil
  • Hector Estruga, retired partner and former Professional Practice Director for South America, Ernst & Young; currently consultant to E&Y Member, CENCYA (Special Audit and Accounting Standards Committee), Argentine Federation of Professional Councils in Economic Sciences
  • Hector Vela Dib, Corporate Financing Director, Cemex, Mexico Middle East
  • Adir Inbar, Chairman, Professional Board of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Israel; Professional Leader and Senior Audit Partner, Deloitte Israel North America
  • Frank Brod, Corporate Vice President and Controller, The Dow Chemical Company; Immediate Past Chairman, Committee on Corporate Reporting, Financial Executives International
  • Colleen Cunningham, President and CEO, Financial Executives International
  • Trevor Harris, Managing Director of Valuation, Accounting, and Enterprise Risk, Morgan Stanley
  • Patricia McConnell, Senior Managing Director, Bear, Stearns & Co. International organisations (with designated representatives)
  • Basel Committee of Banking Supervisors: Arnold Schilder, Executive Director, De Nederlandsche Bank
  • International Association of Insurance Supervisors: Tomoko Amaya, Chair, IAIS Accounting Subcommittee
  • International Federation of Accountants: Ian Ball, Chief Executive
  • International Monetary Fund: Kenneth Sullivan, Senior Financial Sector Expert
  • International Organization of Securities Commissions: John Carchrae, Chief Accountant, Ontario Securities Commission, Canada, and Christoph Ernst, Head of the Accounting and Auditing Law Division of the Bundesministerium der Justiz, Germany
  • United Nations Conference for Trade and Development: Tatiana Krylova, Head, Investment and Enterprise Competitiveness Branch
  • World Bank: Charles McDonough, Chief Accountant Observers
  • European Commission
  • Financial Services Agency of Japan
  • US Securities and Exchange Commission
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IASB posts technical corrections comment letters

15 Oct 2005

The IASB has posted on its website the 37 letters of comment the Board received on its proposed policy on technical corrections.

Here is the Link to the Download Page for the comment letters. Click here for Proposed Policy (PDF 39k). You will find Deloitte's letter of comment on the proposed policy Here.
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ASIC clarifies impact of IFRSs on dividends

14 Oct 2005

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) has issued guidance on how the adoption of Australian International Financial Reporting Standards (A-IFRSs) affect an entity's ability to use past retained profits to pay dividends.

Under s254T of the Corporations Act 2001, a company can only pay dividends out of profits. The retained profits shown in the last financial report of a company are relevant for this purpose. Upon the adoption of A-IFRSs, the retained profits of some companies will change, sometimes materially. ASIC believes that retained profits previously reported on a pre-A-IFRS basis cease to have relevance for paying dividends after the first half-year financial report of a 'disclosing entity', or full year financial report of a 'non-disclosing entity' prepared under the Act using A-IFRSs, is completed. Only retained profits and current year profits recorded under A-IFRS will be relevant from that time going forward. Click for (PDF 23k).

 

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Webcast on Canadian - US GAAP differences

14 Oct 2005

Deloitte & Touche LLP - Canada will conduct a webcast on 15 November 2005 2:00-3:30pm Toronto time on differences between Canadian accounting standards and US GAAP.

Topics to be discussed:
  • Guarantees
  • Classification of liabilities and equities
  • Defined benefit pension plans
  • Temporary impairments
  • Hedging
  • Accounting for joint ventures
  • Start-up costs
  • Research and development
Click for Link to Deloitte Canada Webcast Archines.
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SME round-tables continue today

14 Oct 2005

The IASB is holding round-table discussions with respondents to its questionnaire on possible recognition and measurement simplifications for small and medium-sized entities (SMEs) in London on 13-14 October 2005. The two days are each divided into four 90-minute segments.

In each segment, representatives of five to seven responding organisations discuss their views with an equal number of members of the IASB. Click for More Information about the SME Project.
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Four new public sector exposure drafts

13 Oct 2005

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) has issued four exposure drafts.

Two relate to convergence with IFRSs and two are aimed at increasing the transparency of government financial statements:
  • ED 25 Equal Authority of Paragraphs in IPSASs, proposes amendments to the Preface to International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSASs) to clarify that all paragraphs in the IPSASs have equal authority.
  • ED 26 Improvements to International Public Sector Accounting Standards. ED 26 proposes updates to 11 IPSASs to converge with the equivalent IFRSs issued by the IASB in December 2003 as part of the IASB's 'improvements project'. We had previously reported on ED 26 in our news story of 28 September 2005.
  • ED 27 Presentation of Budget Information in Financial Statements.
  • ED 28 Disclosure of Financial Information about the General Government Sector.
IPSASs are based on IFRSs to the extent appropriate, and business activities of governments must follow IFRSs directly. The EDs may be downloaded from the IPSASB Web Page on IFAC's Website. Comments on EDs 25 and 26 are requested by 31 January 2006. Comments on EDs 27 and 28 are requested by 10 February 2006. Click for:
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IFRS Ydinkohdat – IFRS In Your Pocket 2005 in Finnish

12 Oct 2005

Deloitte & Touche (Finland) have published IFRS Ydinkohdat, the Finnish version of our popular booklet, IFRS In Your Pocket 2005. This 72-page booklet contains background information about the IASB and IFRSs, and summaries of all of the standards and interpretations.

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EFRAG makes three endorsement recommendations

11 Oct 2005

The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group has recommended that the European Commission adopt three pronouncements for use in Europe.

Click to download EFRAG's letters on:
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FEE urges clarity of basis of reporting

11 Oct 2005

The Federation of European Accountants (FEE) has published an analysis of responses to its April 2005 discussion paper on the reporting issues and implications for the audit report of the process of 'endorsing' IFRSs for use in Europe.

FEE represents 44 professional institutes of accountants from 32 countries. Based on its analysis, FEE makes the following recommendations:
  • FEE calls on the European Commission to issue authoritative guidance on how European companies should refer to their financial reporting framework. "There is a clear need for a standard wording."
  • FEE recommends a change to the EC's previously suggested reference to the financial reporting framework: "Precision would be added if it were amended to: in accordance with IFRSs as adopted for use in the EU." Specifically the reference to the plural of IFRSs is considered significant to highlight that standards are endorsed one by one.
  • Companies are strongly encouraged to explain, in the notes to the accounts, how their accounting policies, applying IFRSs as endorsed for use in the EU, depart from full IFRS. "This will enable investors to understand the impact and to compare the results of companies within and outside the EU."
  • The reference in the audit report should be the same as in the accounting policies.
  • Where companies are in compliance with full IFRS, they should be encouraged to say so in their accounting policies. However, the legal financial reporting framework in the EU needs to be referred to in all cases.
This is not just a European issue because national adoptions of IFRSs elsewhere around the world have included additions, deletions, and changes to the IASB standards as well as time lags between IASB adoption and local adoption. Click for:

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