News

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Final module on the IFRS for SMEs on transition to the standard

04 Mar 2019

The IFRS Foundation has issued the 35th and final stand-alone educational module, which supports the learning, application, and reading of financial statements prepared with the IFRS for SMEs Standard.

The module focuses on the general requirements that a first-time adopter of the IFRS for SMEs follows as specified in Section 35 Transition to the IFRS for SMEs of the IFRS for SMEs.

Please click to access all 35 IFRS for SMEs modules (free registration required).

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ESMA continues series of video tutorials on ESEF

04 Mar 2019

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has released the second in a series of tutorial videos designed to guide market participants through the new requirements of European Single Electronic Format (ESEF), which will become effective in 2020.

The new video runs through a range of information about how to use the ESEF and IFRS taxonomies, map concepts from an issuers’ face financials to the base taxonomy, and the basics of the anchoring rules for extending the taxonomy to take account of company-specific concepts.

Please click to access the thirteeen minute video on YouTube.

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Agenda for the March 2019 GPF meeting

01 Mar 2019

Representatives from the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) will meet with the Global Preparers Forum (GPF) in London on 22 March 2019. The agenda for the meeting has been released.

The full agenda for the meeting is sum­marised below:

Friday, 22 March 2019 (10:10-15:15)

  • IASB update
  • SMEs that are subsidiaries — Application advice in individual jurisdictions
  • Onerous contracts — Costs of fulfilling a contract (proposed amendments to IAS 37 Provisions, Contingent Liabilities and Contingent Assets)
  • Provisions
  • Man­age­ment com­men­tary
  • Disclosure initiative — Targeted Standards-level review and user outreach summary

Agenda papers  for this meeting are available on the IASB's website.

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March 2019 IASB meeting agenda posted

01 Mar 2019

The IASB has posted the agenda for its next meeting, which will be held at its offices in London on 12–14 March 2019. There are ten topics on the agenda.

The Board will discuss the following:

  • Classification of liabilities as current or non-current (amendments to IAS 1)
    • Liabilities with equity-settlement features
    • Lending conditions tested after the reporting period
  • SMEs that are subsidiaries — Project update
  • SME Standard review and update — Relationship between the IFRS for SMEs Standard and full IFRS Standards
  • Financial instruments with characteristics of equity — Key themes emerging from feedback
  • Business combinations under common control
    • Overview of the staff's approach
    • Lenders and other creditors in BCUCC
  • Extractive activities — Feedback summary
  • Primary financial statements
    • Additional proposals on minimum line items
    • Unusual items
  • Amendments to IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts
    • Level of aggregation
    • Credit cards that provide insurance coverage
    • Transition requirements
    • Amendments to disclosure requirements resulting from the Board's tentative decisions to date
    • Implications for disclosure and transition requirements
  • Disclosure initiative
    • Due process steps
  • IBOR reform and the effects on financial reporting
    • Voluntary application and end of relief
    • Due process steps

The full agenda for the meeting can be found here. We will post any updates to the agenda, our com­pre­hen­sive pre-meet­ing summaries as well as observer notes from the meeting on this page as they become available.

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CRD releases paper on SDGs and the future of corporate reporting

01 Mar 2019

The Corporate Reporting Dialogue (CRD), which brings together organisations that have significant international influence on the corporate reporting landscape, has a position paper supporting the development of better reporting guidelines for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Participants of the CRD advocate working together to provide guidance and structure for businesses to be transparent and accountable, and to ensure better decision-making that promote financial stability and sustainable development.

The paper, entitled SDGs and the future of corporate reporting, identifies how corporate reporting can illustrate which SDGs are relevant to a company’s business model, enabling both companies and investors to focus on those SDGs most likely to impact financial performance. The paper also articulates the importance of driving integration of financial and non-financial information to demonstrate how companies create value for stakeholders over the short and long term. In addition, the paper outlines the work that the particpants of the CRD, as framework providers and standard-setters, must undertake to ensure there is guidance for business at the level of the underlying SDG targets and to ensure that businesses are producing meaningful information and indicators.

Please click for the press release and the position paper on the IIRC website.

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IPSASB publishes strategy and work plan for 2019-2023

01 Mar 2019

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) has published its strategy and work plan for 2019 through 2023.

The IPSASB’s strategic objective is to strengthen public financial management globally through increasing adoption of accrual-based IPSAS. To achieve this, the IPSASB will develop and maintain IPSAS and other high-quality financial reporting guidance for the public sector and raise awareness of IPSAS and the benefits of accrual adoption. The development of global standards includes setting standards on public sector specific issues, maintaining IFRS alignment, and developing guidance to meet users’ broader financial reporting needs.

Please click for more information and access to the strategy and work plan for 2019-2023 on the IPSASB website.

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IASB publishes editorial corrections

01 Mar 2019

The IASB has published its first batch of editorial corrections in 2019.

The new set of editorial corrections contains a retraction and replacement of a previous editorial correction (IFRS 15), a correction of an amendment (Definition of Material (Amendments to IAS 1 and IAS 8)), and a correction to a stand-alone standard (IFRS 2).

Editorial corrections do not change the meaning or application of pronouncements, but instead correct inadvertent errors. The editorial corrections can be viewed on the editorial corrections page of the IASB's website.

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Summary of the January 2019 MCCG meeting

01 Mar 2019

The IASB has published a summary of the Management Commentary Consultative Group (MCCG) meeting held on 11 January 2019.

Under the heading of "Performance, position and progress", the MCCG discussed the following:

  • Overall approach
  • Analysis of the financial statements
  • Matters that could affect the entity’s future development

For more information, see the summary on the IASB website.

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IASB concludes two projects by publishing project summaries

28 Feb 2019

The IASB has published 'Improvements to IFRS 8 'Operating Segments' — Proposed amendments to IFRS 8 and IAS 34 project summary' and 'Discount rates in IFRS Standards project summary'. The IASB will not conduct any further work regarding these projects.

In 2012, the IASB started a post-implementation review of IFRS 8 Operating Segments and subsequently published a report and feedback statement summarising the findings of the review. In March 2017, the IASB proposed to address the findings from the review in the exposure draft ED/2017/2 Improvements to IFRS 8 'Operating Segments' (Proposed amendments to IFRS 8 and IAS 34). However, feedback to the ED revealed that some of the Board's proposals could be dealt with by existing requirements, that other proposals would not be effective in addressing the findings from the review, and that the remaining proposals would not result in sufficient improvements in information to investors to justify the additional costs. Therefore, the Board decided not to proceed with the amendments proposed in the ED. Thus, the project summary published today concludes the project.

The project on discount rates resulted from feedback in the Agenda consultation 2011 where constituents had commented that the reasons for differences in discount rate requirements under various IFRSs is not well understood and could be considered inconsistent. Therefore, the IASB conducted a research project from 2014 to 2017 to investigate reasons for inconsistencies between requirements relating to discount rates in IFRSs and to assess whether the Board should consider addressing those inconsistencies. The Board’s investigation found that, in some cases, inconsistencies arise between requirements relating to discount rates in IFRSs because different standards adopt different measurement bases. There are also some inconsistencies because different standards were developed at different times and with different areas of focus. The Board will use those findings in other projects but has no plans to conduct a separate project on discount rates. This project is, therefore, also conluded by publishing a project summary.

The following information is available on the IASB website:

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IFRS Foundation seeks Trustee applications

28 Feb 2019

The IFRS Foundation announces that it is seeking applications for the role of Trustee.

The IFRS Foundation are seeking three Trustees: one from Asia Oceania and two from the Americas. Trustees’ responsibilities include oversight of the organisation in the public interest, its strategic direction, appointments to the Board, the IFRS Interpretations Committee and the IFRS Advisory Council, and ensuring the financing of the organisation and approving its budget. The role description notes:

Qualified candidates should have top-level experience in an organisation with an interest in accounting standards. They should demonstrate a firm commitment to serving the public interest, to the work of the Foundation and to the Board as a high quality global standard-setter. They should be financially knowledgeable and be able to meet the time commitment, which includes, but is not limited to, up to four two-day meetings each year. Trustees should have an understanding of, and be sensitive to, the challenges associated with the adoption and application of high quality global accounting standards developed for use in the world’s capital markets and by other users.

Please click to access the press release on the IASB website.

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