Below is an analysis of all changes made to the work plan since our last analysis on 24 April 2020.

Standard-setting projects

• no changes
  

Maintenance projects

• Annual improvements — 2018-2020 cycle — removed from the work plan as the IASB completed this cycle of annual improvements by issuing Annual Improvements to IFRS Standards 2018–2020 on 14 May 2020; projects that were part of this cycle included:
  
  • Fees in the ‘10 per cent’ Test for Derecognition of Financial Liabilities (Amendments to IFRS 9)
  • Lease Incentives (Amendment to Illustrative Example 13 accompanying IFRS 16)
  • Subsidiary as a First-time Adopter (Amendment to IFRS 1)
  • Taxation in Fair Value Measurements (Amendment to IAS 41)
• Classification of liabilities — Effective date — an exposure draft ED/2020/3 Classification of Liabilities as Current or Non-current — Deferral of Effective Date (Proposed amendment to IAS 1) was published on 4 May 2020 with comments requested by 3 June 2020; the feedback on the exposure draft will be discussed in June 2020
• IFRS 16 and COVID-19 — the IASB discussed the feedback on the exposure draft published on 24 April 2020 at its supplementary meeting on 15 May 2020 and expects to issue final amendments "on or around 28 May 2020"
• IAS 37 — Onerous contracts — removed from the work plan as the IASB issued Onerous Contracts — Cost of Fulfilling a Contract (Amendments to IAS 37) on 14 May 2020
• IAS 16 — Proceeds before intended use — removed from the work plan as the IASB issued Property, Plant and Equipment — Proceeds before Intended Use (Amendments to IAS 16) on 14 May 2020
• IFRS 3 — Updating a reference to the Conceptual Framework — removed from the work plan as the IASB issued Reference to the Conceptual Framework (Amendments to IFRS 3) on 14 May 2020

Research projects

• Dynamic risk management — core model outreach has been clarified to take place in fourth quarter of 2020 (previously second half of 2020)

Other projects

• IFRS Taxonomy update — Amendments to IFRS 17 and IAS 16 — a project newly added to the work plan; a proposed taxonomy update is expected in July 2020
• IFRS Taxonomy update — Covid-19-related rent concessions (Amendment to IFRS 16) — a project newly added to the work plan; a proposed taxonomy update is expected in May 2020

The above is a faithful comparison of the IASB work plan at 24 April 2020 and at 25 May 2020. For access to the current IASB work plan at any time, please click here.

Amendments to IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts: The amendments to IFRS 17 are being finalised by the staff. During this process the staff identified five (sweep) issues for which the Board decided to make additional changes to the Standard, along with two other matters that were identified after the staff paper had been distributed.

Maintenance and consistent application — Sale and leaseback with variable payments: At its April 2020 meeting, the Board decided to amend IFRS 16 for sale and leaseback transactions when the lease has variable payments. At this meeting the Board decided that the proposed amendment be applied retrospectively in accordance with IAS 8, except when hindsight is required, and that early application be permitted.  

Disclosure initiative — Accounting policies: The Board supported the staff recommendations towards finalising the proposal to require entities to disclose ‘material’ accounting policies instead of ‘significant’ accounting policies. However, given the importance of the wording, the staff have been asked to bring revised drafting back for the Board to consider. The finalisation should not be delayed to align with any changes arising from the ED General Presentation and Disclosures. However, the staff will consider whether to align the effective date of this amendment with the amendments to IAS 8 under the Accounting policies and accounting estimates project.

Management commentary: The Board supported the staff recommendations for the disclosure objectives and the type of information that would support those objectives in relation to risk and the external evironment.

Research programme update: The staff updated the Board on the research programme, including recent changes to the timetable and priorities.

There was also an oral update of IBOR Reform and the Effects on Financial Reporting: Based on informal discussions, the overall feedback of the ED is supportive and positive. The comment letter analysis and potential changes will be discussed in the June 2020 meeting.

Please click to access the detailed notes taken by Deloitte observers for the entire meeting.

The objective of the statement is to provide clarifications to Islamic financial institutions for the application of AAOIFI financial accounting standards (FASs) and the AAOIFI's Conceptual Framework considering certain pertinent issues arising due to economic factors and regulatory interventions in the wake of the COVID-­19 pandemic. AAOIFI is of the view that the FASs are robust and flexible enough to address the challenges posed by the prevalent uncertainty in the environment, but emphasises that institutions are encouraged to provide additional disclosures on voluntary basis to enable the users of the financial statements to better understand the financial position and performance of the institutions.

Please click to access the statement on the AAOIFI website.

On Wednesday 10 June 2020 at 11am (BST) the live webinar on the Board’s exposure draft General Presentation and Disclosures will be held and will explain the Board’s detailed proposals for subtotals and categories in the statement of profit and loss. The webinar will last approximately 45 minutes and will include a question-and-answer session. More information is available here.

On Friday 5 June 2020 at 11am (BST) the live webinar on the Board’s discussion paper Business Combinations — Disclosures, Goodwill and Impairment will be held and will provide an overview of the discussion paper. The webinar will last approximately 45 minutes and will include a question-and-answer session. More information is available here.

The consultation draft has been informed by the 300 responses the IIRC received on three topic papers published in February, ongoing observation of market practice internationally, as well as the detailed deliberations of the IIRC’s Framework Panel, a diverse group of reporting experts from the business, investor and accountancy communities. Feedback on the draft is requested through an online survey and via participation in one of over 20 virtual roundtables hosted by the IIRC’s partners globally.

Please click for more information, access to the draft and access to a companion document setting out the basis for the proposed Framework revisions on the IIRC website.

The statement highlights:

• the importance of providing relevant and reliable information, which may require issuers to make use of the time allowed by national law to publish half-yearly financial reports while not unduly delaying the timing of publication;
• the importance of updating the information included in the latest annual accounts to adequately inform stakeholders of the impacts of COVID-19, in particular in relation to significant uncertainties and risks, going concern, impairment of non-financial assets and presentation in the statement of profit or loss; and
• the need for entity-specific information on the past and expected future impact of COVID-19 on the strategic orientation and targets, operations, performance of issuers as well as any mitigating actions put in place to address the effects of the pandemic.

ESMA also notes that the statement is also applicable to financial statements in other interim periods when IAS 34 Interim Financial Reporting is applied.

Please click to access the statement on the ESMA website.

This publication includes reports from the EFRAG President Jean-Paul Gauzès and the TEG Chairwoman Chiara Del Prete. It also features EFRAG's continued work on IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts; the work on accounting for long-term equity instruments; research projects on intangibles and crypto-assets and liabilities.

The annual review is available on the EFRAG website.

The event was organised into a general introductory section and the discussion of five key topics (each again introduced by IASB and EFRAG) that where then opened to questions from the audience. The agenda below indicates where during the two-and-a-half hour recording the individual topics were discussed:

• Opening and welcome
• General introduction to the IASB exposure draft General Presentation and Disclosures (begins at about 5:00 minutes)
  
• EFRAG’s view on the topic (begins at about 12:00 minutes)
• Key Topic 1 – Defined lines and subtotals in the income statement – improved comparability or imposed uniformity? (begins at about 21:00 minutes)
• Key Topic 2 – Looking at the new subtotals – what is the impact and will they work for all industries? (begins at about 1:20:00 hours)
• Key Topic 3 – Management performance measures – definition, disclosure and unusual items: Will management still be able to explain the overall performance / generation of income in the context of the activities and business strategy? (begins at about 1:42:00 hours)
• Key Topic 4 – Principles of aggregation and disaggregation – new proposals expected compared to how companies disaggregate information today (begins at about 2:19:00 hours)
• Key Topic 5 – Statement of cash flows – change to the starting point, new disaggregation due to new line items introduced and removal of classification choice for interest and dividends (begins at about 2:27:00 hours, introduction by IASB and EFRAG only, no discussion due to reasons of time)

The recording of the outreach event is available here. You can also access the slides for the event on the EFRAG website. The EFRAG website also offers a summary report of the event.

The 20-minute podcast can be accessed through the press release on Accountancy Europe's website. It is the third in a series of podcasts focusing on different aspects of the crisis. The entire series is available on Accountancy Europe's podcast page.

Deviating slightly from the original proposal but not changing the core practical relief, the Board decided to allow the expedient to be applied to COVID-19-related rent concessions to payments originally due on or before 30 June 2021. The Board also decided to require disclosure of the amount recognised in profit or loss to reflect changes in lease payments that arise from COVID-19-related rent concessions. Finally, the Board decided that in the reporting period in which a lessee first applies the amendment, it is not required to disclose the quantitative information required by paragraph 28(f) of IAS 8. All decisions were supported by 13 Board members.

The amendment will have an effective date of 1 June 2020 with early application permitted. Despite the wording "annual reporting periods" the amendment would also be available for interim reports.

For lessors, the Board decided to take no further action. It argued that as many entities face significant challenges at the moment, there needs to be sufficient reason to undertake standard-setting, which the Board did not see enough evidence for. This decision was supported by all 14 Board members.

The Board did not see a need for re-exposure and no Board member intends to dissent from the issuance of the amendment. The Board is satisfied that it has complied with the applicable due process requirements and gave permission to begin the balloting process for the amendment. These decisions were supported by all 14 Board members.The staff expect issuing a final amendment on or around 28 May 2020.

Please click to access the detailed notes taken by Deloitte observers.