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New European Corporate Governance Forum

24 Oct 2004

The European Commission has created a European Corporate Governance Forum to examine best practices in Member States with a view to enhancing the convergence of national corporate governance codes and providing advice to the Commission.

The Forum's 15 members come from various professional backgrounds (issuers, investors, academics, regulators, and auditors) and are appointed for three-year terms. The Forum will meet two to three times a year and will deliver a yearly report to the Commission. Click for (28k).
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Proposals to change IASC Foundation constitution

23 Oct 2004

The Constitution Committee of the IASC Foundation Trustees will present its preliminary recommendations on changes to the Foundation's constitution at a meeting of the Trustees on 25 October 2004. If the Trustees approve the recommendations, they will be published for public comment.

Click to Download the Proposals of the Constitution Committee (PDF 275k). Among the recommendations:

Recommendations of the Constitution Committee

IASB:

  • Permit up to four part-time members of the IASB (currently it is two).
  • Broaden the criteria for selecting IASB members – 'professional competence and practical experience' would replace 'technical expertise'.
  • The required mix of backgrounds on the IASB would be less restrictive. Currently a minimum of five practising auditors, three preparers, three users, and one academician are required. That would be changed to "an appropriate mix of practical experience among auditors, preparers, users, and academics", including at least one IASB member who has recent experience in each of those fields.
  • Require nine votes (64%) by IASB members to approve an Exposure Draft, Standard, or Interpretation, rather than the current eight (57%).
  • Enhance the IASB's due process by expanding its consultative arrangements and scope of liaison activities.

Trustees:

  • Expand the number of Trustees from 19 to 22 to broaden geographical representation and diversity of professional experience.
  • Allow the Chair of the IASC Foundation Trustees to serve as Chair for six years, even if that period is beyond the limit of two three-year terms for Trustees.
  • The Trustees' annual review of the strategy and effectiveness of the Foundation and the IASB and its effectiveness should include consideration of the IASB's agenda.
  • Rather than necessarily developing educational programmes itself, the Foundation should foster and review the development of educational programmes and materials by others.

Standards Advisory Council:

  • The Chair of the Standards Advisory Council would be appointed by the Trustees (three-year term, one renewal permitted) and would not be a member of the IASB or its staff (currently the IASB Chair also chairs the SAC).
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Deloitte comment letter on ED 7

23 Oct 2004

We have posted the Deloitte letter of comment on the IASB's exposure draft ED 7 Financial Instruments: Disclosures.

Click to (PDF 99k). Our overall view:

We support the issuance of a new Standard that contains all disclosure requirements in relation to financial instruments of any entity. We believe the issuance of such a standard will enhance comparability of financial reports, and ensure consistent disclosures in relation to financial instruments, particularly by entities whose primary operations are not in financial services sectors.

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Web-based technical update on IAS 1 and IAS 14

22 Oct 2004

The Deloitte London IFRS Centre of Excellence is running a monthly series of hour-long Internet-based IFRS technical updates, focusing on the most important international accounting standards and how they will affect UK companies.

The sixth Webcast was run on 20 October 2004 and covered IAS 1 Presentation of Financial Statements and IAS 14 Segment Reporting. To access the recording Click Here. The recording of each session will be available on this website for a period of at least 3 to 4 weeks from the date of the presentation. Links to past sessions may be found on our United Kingdom Page. The recording is no longer available online.
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Equivalence of national GAAPs and IFRSs

21 Oct 2004

The Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) has published a Concept Paper on Equivalence of Certain Third Country GAAP and on Description of Certain Third Countries' Mechanisms for Enforcement of Financial Information.

CESR developed the paper in response to a request from the European Commission for advice on equivalence of Canadian, Japanese, and United States GAAPs with IFRSs. The EC also asked CESR to describe the mechanisms existing in those countries and others for the enforcement of standards for financial information. The concept paper sets out the basis on which CESR will approach its analysis. Click to (PDF 289k). CESR has requested comments on its concept paper by 22 December 2004.
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Notes from the third day of the IASB meeting

21 Oct 2004

We have combined all of our preliminary and unofficial notes from the 18-20 October 2004 IASB meeting onto a Single Page. .

We have combined all of our preliminary and unofficial notes from the 18-20 October 2004 IASB meeting onto a Single Page.

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IASC Foundation is seeking three trustees

20 Oct 2004

The IASC Foundation is seeking three new members of its board of trustees – one each from the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, and North America.

One should have senior experience in accounting, and another must have a background in the user community, which could include senior experience in investment organisations, regulatory bodies, or analyst institutions. The appointments will be for the three years expiring on 31 December 2007, with one renewal possible. Click for More Information (PDF 14k).
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100,000 e-learning downloads from IASPlus

20 Oct 2004

Yesterday the -->100,000th --> IFRS e-learning module was downloaded from IASPlus since Deloitte's e-learning was launched at the end of January.

Many of those modules have multiple users because organisations are permitted to install the Deloitte IFRS e-learning modules on their own servers for the internal use of their employees or students. In addition, tens of thousands of modules have been completed online and offline by Deloitte staff. You can always access IFRS e-learning without charge by clicking on the light bulb icon on the IASPlus home page.
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Notes from the second day of the IASB meeting

20 Oct 2004

We have combined all of our preliminary and unofficial notes from the 18-20 October 2004 IASB meeting onto a Single Page. .

We have combined all of our preliminary and unofficial notes from the 18-20 October 2004 IASB meeting onto a Single Page.

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Minutes of 1 October 2004 ARC meeting

20 Oct 2004

The European Commission has published the minutes of the 1 October 2004 meeting of its Accounting Regulatory Committee at which the ARC recommended endorsement of IAS 39 for use in Europe with two sections "carved out": The carve-outs would (1) prohibit use of the IAS 39 fair value option as it applies to liabilities, and (2) allow using fair value hedge accounting for interest rate hedges of core deposits on a portfolio basis.

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