Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu has published three Executive Briefings on IASB Exposure Draft ED 5, Insurance Contracts:

• (PDF 139k, in English)
• (PDF 185k, in English)
• (PDF 118k, in Danish)

87 and SFAS No. 106 Purposes. Those two FASB Standards require the use of discount rates and other assumptions in measuring an entity's obligations under pension plans (SFAS 87) and other post-employment benefit plans (SFAS 106). IAS 19, Employee Benefits, contains similar requirements. This survey reports on the disclosures made by 287 companies about their SFAS 87 and SFAS 106 assumptions. Click to (PDF 121k).

Topics covered include updates on recent FASB and SEC activity, a brief summary of the IASB's macro hedging exposure draft, and an overview of the Deloitte & Touche 2003 Survey of Economic Assumptions Used for SFAS No. 87 [pensions] and SFAS No. 106 [other post-employment benefit] Purposes.

The Alert notes: "The Inland Revenue position is that they do not believe IAS requires wholesale tax changes but there are circumstances where it is, or would be, 'good policy' to depart from following the accounts for tax purposes. " Click to Download (PDF 421k). Future Alerts will focus on transfer pricing and financial instruments, among other issues.

IASB watchers returning from their summer holidays may find the following recap of upcoming dates helpful:

17-19 September: IASB Board meeting, London 22 September: Meeting of the IASB and World Standard Setters, London 23 September: Meeting of the IASB and its partner national standard setters, London 30 September-1 October: Meeting of the IFRIC, London 22-24 October, IASB Board meeting, Toronto 24 October: Comment deadline on ED 4, Disposal of Non-Current Assets and Reporting of Discontinued Operations 31 October: Comment deadline on ED 5, Insurance Contracts 14 November: Comment deadline on ED, Hedge Accounting for a Portfolio Hedge of Interest Rate Risk

This amendment was not among the Amendments to IAS 39 that the Board had proposed in July 2002.

The Board has determined that this change is of a magnitude that warrants the solicitation of public comment. Comment deadline is 14 November 2003.

The Board will issue an amended IAS 39 without the macro hedging proposal by the end of 2003.  A second version of IAS 39 revised, reflecting the final macro hedging decision, is planned for March 2004.

We have prepared a IAS Plus newsletter (PDF 31k) summarising the proposals in the exposure draft.

Click for IASB Press Release (PDF 42k). You can download the ED directly from the IASB's Website (PDF 258k).

 

China Today is a newsletter published periodically by the Chinese Services Group of Deloitte & Touche (USA) to provide updated information on business, finance, and tax issues in Greater China.

Nicolaisen as the Commission's Chief Accountant. Mr. Nicolaisen is currently a senior partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. The SEC's Announcement said: "Mr. Nicolaisen will oversee the Commission's accounting policy initiatives and lead the SEC's efforts with national and international standard-setters on critical accounting and auditing issues, including international convergence and efforts to adopt principles-based accounting standards."

We have posted the following two new Australian Accounting Alertsfrom Deloitte & Touche (Australia):

• (PDF 83k)
• (PDF 32k)

The following projects are on the Agenda for discussion at the IASB's meeting at its offices in London on 17-19 September 2003:

• Business Combinations Phase I
• Business Combinations Phase II
• Consolidation and Special Purpose Entities
• Convergence
• Extractive Industries
• Amendments to IAS 32 and IAS 39
• IFRIC Update
• Improvements to IFRS
• Revenue Recognition
• Share-based Payment
• Small and Medium-Sized Entities