The consultation is intended to assess demand for global sustainability standards and what role the Foundation might play in the development of such standards.

For the convenience of participants from different time zones, there will be two sessions of the webinar both discussing the same topics:

• Tuesday 17 November 2020, 10:00–11:00 GMT and
• Tuesday 17 November 2020, 15:00–16:00 GMT.

Each session will last a maximum of 60 minutes and include a moderated question-and-answer session. Questions can be submitted in advance.

Please click for more information, registration, and submitting questions in the press release on the IASB website.

The proposed update includes elements to reflect common reporting practice and new and amended labels to clarify the accounting meaning and intended use of some existing elements.

For more information, see the press release and proposed update on the IASB’s website. Comments are requested by 5 January 2021.

In his response, Mr Thedéen repeats the April 2020 IOSCO statement that IOSCO is looking to play an important role in the area of sustainability reporting. Commenting once more on the IFRS Foundation sustainability reporting consultation and the statement of intent of CDP, CDSB, GRI, IIRC, and SASB, he notes again that while these initiatives are currently running in parallel, IOSCO is keen to see them come together.

On IOSCO's role and the path forward, Mr Thedéen reconfirms that IOSCO stands ready to offer support and help. He writes:

As noted, we agree that there is an urgent need to improve the completeness, consistency and comparability of sustainability reporting. Together your joint initiative and that of the IFRS Foundation [...] can set the foundations of a global system architecture that will deliver a more coherent and comprehensive corporate reporting system. [...] We believe that IOSCO is in a unique position to help in this process - just as we did 20 years ago when we endorsed IFRS for use in cross-border offerings and listings and set the foundations of the current three-tier governance structure that the IFRS Foundation enjoys today. We look forward to continuing and deepening our collaboration with your organisations and the IFRS Foundation.

Please click to access the full letter on the IOSCO website.

The TCFD surveyed disclosures of around 1,700 firms from diverse sectors with broad geographical representation (69 countries). It found that:

The report also notes that expert users find the impact of climate change on a company’s business and strategy as the “most useful” for decision-making, an insight which might provide a road map for preparers.

The TCFD also published guidance on climate-related scenario analysis for non-financial firms and on integrating climate-related risks into existing risk management processes. Additionally, the TCFD published a public consultation on forward-looking climate metrics for financial firms (with responses due by 27 January 2021).

Please click for the following additional information on the FSB website:

• Press release
• Status report 2020
• Guidance on scenario analysis for non-financial firms
• Guidance on risk management integration and disclosure
• Consultation on forward-looking financial sector metrics

The article builds on a panel discussion at the IFRS Foundation Virtual Conference on 28 September 2020, which focused on what entities need to consider when developing assumptions in preparing financial statements in times of heightened uncertainty and what information to disclose about the assumptions used.

Please click to access In Brief: Applying IFRS Standards in 2020 — impact of covid-19 on the IASB website.

The common enforcement priorities related to 2020 IFRS financial statements include:

• the application of IAS 1 Presentation of Financial Statements with a focus on going concern, significant judgements and estimation uncertainty and the presentation of COVID-related items in the financial statements;
• the application of IAS 36 Impairment of Assets, where the recoverable amount of goodwill, intangible assets and tangible assets may be impacted by the deterioration of the economic outlook of various sectors;
• the application of IFRS 9 Financial Instruments and IFRS 7 Financial Instruments: Disclosures, including general considerations relating to risks arising from financial instruments, focusing on liquidity risk, and specific considerations related to the application of IFRS 9 for credit institutions when measuring expected credit losses; and
• specific issues related to the application of IFRS 16 Leases, including explicit disclosures by lessees which have applied the IASB’s amendment providing relief to lessees when accounting for rent concessions.

ESMA also highlights key non-financial information issues and alternative performance measures with regard to the impact of COVID-19, social and employee matters, business model and value creation, and risks relating to climate change.

ESMA also highlights the importance of disclosures analysing the possible impacts of the decision of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union.

ESMA and European national enforcers will monitor and supervise the application of the IFRS requirements outlined in the priorities, with national authorities incorporating them into their reviews and taking corrective actions where appropriate. ESMA will collect data on how European listed entities have applied the priorities and will publish its findings in a separate report.

Please click for the following documents on the ESMA website:

• Press release
• Public statement on enforcement priorities, providing more background on each of the focus areas

The EFRAG analysis aims at assessing possible impacts of the new accounting model under consideration based on an understanding of users' current information needs and approaches towards analysing rate-regulated entities.

Please click for more information on the EFRAG website.

The two boards informed each other about their respective activities, including the response to the COVID-19 pandemic’s effects, and exchanged views on technical topics in which they both have an interest, including accounting for goodwill, the equity method of accounting, as well as the FASB’s exposure draft on the elements chapter of its Conceptual Framework.

The next meeting between the FASB and ASBJ is expected to be held in the first half of 2021. For more information about the latest meeting, see the press release on the ASBJ website.

The briefing paper describes the positive draft endorsement advice of the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) on IFRS 17 that notes that the Board achieved consensus on all issues with the exception of annual cohorts, with nine Board members voting in favour of the cohorts meeting the endorsement criteria and seven members disagreeing. The briefing paper also cites an article by IASB Chair Hans Hoogervorst explaining the reasons supporting the IASB’s recent decision to uphold the annual cohort requirement in IFRS 17 for grouping insurance contracts to measure and recognise profit.

Please click to access the briefing paper on the website of the European Parliament.

We support the proposed alignment of the IFRS for SMEs Standard with full IFRS Standards, which includes the alignment of principles and important definitions; however, we suggest the Board should assess which principles and definitions are relevant to the users of the IFRS for SMEs Standard. In addition, we agree with the Board’s proposal to use the principles of relevance, simplification and faithful representation to provide a framework that assists in determining whether and how the IFRS for SMEs and the suggestions by the Board in Part B of the RFI on the specific sections of the IFRS for SMEs Standard that should be aligned with full IFRS Standards except for the proposed alignment with IFRS 16 Leases. Lastly, we note that the IFRS for SMEs Standard does not provide guidance on how SMEs should account for assets held for sale and discontinued operations. We believe that the Board should consider alignment with IFRS 5 Non-current Assets Held for Sale and Discontinued Operations with simplifications, where appropriate.

Click to view the comment letter.