Ms White, a former federal prosecutor, was originally nominated by President Obama to complete former SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro's term and serve a full five-year term as head of the SEC. The US Senate confirmed Ms White as the Chairman of the SEC in April 2013 and confirmed her five-year term extension on 1 August 2013.

Ms White replaced Elisse Walter, who had been serving as SEC Chairman after Ms Schapiro’s resignation in December 2012.

Since 2012 the SOCPA has been working on an IFRS transition project which involves converging national standards with full IFRSs. According to the press release released yesterday, the earliest date for application shall be on financial statements of listed entities prepared for financial periods starting at 1 January 2017. For other entities the earliest date for application shall be on financial statements prepared for financial periods starting at 1 January 2018.

Please click for access to the press release on the SOCPA website. More information on accounting in Saudi Arabia is available on our Saudi Arabia jurisdiction page.

EFRAG appreciates the large number of changes that ED/2013/7 Insurance Contracts shows in comparison with the 2010 ED and supports most of those changes. However, EFRAG also voices some concerns:

• EFRAG believes that the IASB’s proposals in the ED in combination with the classification and measurement requirements in other standards will not help to eliminate accounting mismatches and would result in reporting the insurance performance split across profit or loss and OCI.
• EFRAG also suggests that the IASB should acknowledge the long-term oriented investment business model of insurance activities in the requirements.
• In respect of the proposed measurement and presentation exception, EFRAG voices several concerns (starting point of the proposed ‘mirroring’, scope, measurement basis, and presentation).

Regarding the proposed measurement and presentation exception, EFRAG is currently considering an alternative proposal developed by the insurance industry that might, wholly or partly, address EFRAG's concerns. The alternative is described in an appendix to the draft comment letter, however, EFRAG has not yet formed a view on the approach and has not yet assessed its technical details, operational complexities or conceptual/technical merits.

Please click for the draft comment letter and a corresponding press release on the EFRAG's website. Comments on the draft comment letter are requested by 18 October 2013.

Each update lasts no more than an hour, and sessions are normally held three times a year, approximately at the end of March, July, and November. We intend to make a recording of each session available on IAS Plus for a period of at least four months from the date of the presentation. The topics covered in the July 2013 webcast include:

• a round up of UK corporate reporting news, including the following items which apply for September 2013 year ends:
  • the new narrative reporting regulations, which require companies to prepare a strategic report; and
  • the new regulations that overhaul the reporting of directors’ remuneration;
• the IASB’s exposure draft on accounting for leases; and
• other IASB developments.

To access the recording click here.

The document, entitled Preliminary Board View: Preface to the Conceptual Framework for General Purpose Financial Reporting by Public Sector Entities, identifies that the primary objective of most public sector entities is to deliver services to the public, rather than to make profits and generate a return on equity to investors.

The preface notes discusses the following characteristics of public sector entities:

• The volume and financial significance of non-exchange transactions including involuntary transfers such as the collection of taxation, increasing the importance of the accountability objective of financial reporting
• The importance of the approved budget and information to compare actual spending, revenues and the resulting surplus or deficit with budget estimates
• The nature and purpose of assets in the public sector, which are primarily held to provide services rather than to generate cash flows. In addition, such assets may contribute to the historical and cultural character of a nation or region, or represent areas of natural significance
• The longevity of the public sector and the nature of public sector programs, making the going concern concept difficult to interpret in the public sector context, and resulting in an increased need for information about the long term sustainability of an entity's finances
• The regulatory role of public sector entities, including entities operating in certain sectors of the economy, to address market failures, or to regulate themselves
• Relationship to statistical reporting, and the commonalities and differences between general purpose financial statements (GPFS) and government finance statistics (GFS).

The preliminary preface follows an earlier exposure draft which was issued in April 2011, and will not be finalised until the IPSASB finalises its conceptual framework during 2014. The IPSASB is not formally calling for constituent comment on the preliminary preface, but considered its publication important "because of the importance of the characteristics identified to the future development of IPSASs and RPGs".

Click for access to the preliminary preface (link to IFAC website).

As expected in Japan’s Business Accounting Council report, The Present Policy on the Application of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), the index may consider the use of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) in selecting the composition of the index. The primary selection method of the index will consist of two quantitative indicators, which are: (1) corporate performance (capital efficiency) and (2) market liquidity (trading volume, market value, etc.). In addition, “qualitative indicators (matters pertaining to disclosure, etc.)" will also be considered in selection process.

The press release of the outline is available on the Tokyo Stock Exchange website.

More information about the issues is set out below:

You can access all our comment letters to the International Accounting Standards Board, IFRS Foundation, and IFRS Interpretations Committee here.

Topics discussed during the DPOC meeting were:

Update on technical activities

Updates were given on the progress of the major projects on the IASB’s work plan. Regarding classification and measurement, the DPOC noted additional discussions will be held between the FASB and IASB in their July 2013 meeting and with the Accounting Standards Advisory Forum (ASAF) in September 2013. The next step will be to perform a ‘lifecycle’ review sometime in October 2013.

For the impairment project, the DPOC discussed the preliminary views on the exposure draft on expected credit losses, which overall supported the proposals and believed the IASB should complete the project in a timely basis. The IASB representatives also believed that convergence with the FASB was not likely to be achieved. Additional discussions will be held between the FASB and IASB in their July 2013 meeting and with the ASAF in September 2013.

Other major projects discussed were hedge accounting (EU adoption of IFRS 9/effective date), macro hedging (upcoming discussion paper/timetable), leases (ED comment period), insurance contracts, and conceptual framework (discussion paper/ASAF involvement).

In addition, the DPOC received updates on implementation and maintenance projects on the IASB’s work plan, in particular, separate financial statements, disclosure requirements about the assessment of going concern, IFRIC 21 Levies, the start of the post-implementation review of IFRS 3, educational material, and XBRL.

Production and timing of Consultative and Final Documents

The DPOC was updated by the IASB on the steps to manage the workload and burden on constituents due to the large amount of publications scheduled to be issued in the second half of 2013.

Due process ‘lifecycle’ review of revenue recognition 

The DPOC received a report on the due process steps taken to date on revenue recognition. The DPOC was satisfied with the due process steps performed for the IASB to begin the final balloting of a new Standard.

Review on consultative groups

The DPOC reviewed and were satisfied that the following consultative groups were operating effectively and should be retained:

• ASAF;
• Emerging Economies Group (EEG);
• Capital Markets Advisory Committee (CMAC) and Global Preparer Forum (GPF);
• Education and Advisory Group (EAG);
• SME Implementation Group (SMEIG);
• XAC and XQRT;
• Effects Analysis Consultative Group (EACG);
• Rate-regulated Activities Consultative Group (RRACG);
• Financial Instruments Working Group (FIWG), Insurance Working Group (IWG) and Leases Working Group (LWG);
• Expert Advisory Panel (EAP); and
• Valuation Expert Group (VEG).

In addition, the DPOC was informed of another group in the formative stage representing Islamic countries (Advisory Group on Sharia-compliant instruments and transactions).

Due Process Protocol

The DPOC addressed three issues: (1) the availability of comment letters, (2) the availability of meeting papers to observers, and (3) interactions with securities and prudential regulators.

DPOC web pages

The DPOC welcomed the redesign performed on the DPOC website.

Review of correspondence

No new correspondence cases were submitted since the Committee’s previous meeting in April 2013.

The DPOC is responsible for approving due process and overseeing the IASB’s compliance with due process, and reviewing the Trustees’ fulfillment of their oversight function in accordance with the Constitution of the IFRS Foundation.

A summary of the meeting is available on the IASB website.

Details of the changes are:

Updates to major projects

• Financial instruments – General hedge accounting — the target for the Standard is now extend into the fourth quarter of 2013 (previously to be completed in the third quarter of 2013)
• Conceptual framework — redeliberations expected in first quarter of 2014

Updates to narrow-scope projects

• Bearer plants (IAS 41) — redeliberations will now start in the first quarter of 2014.
• Disclosure initiative (IAS 1) — added to the work plan; exposure draft targeted for the fourth quarter of 2013.  A research project on disclosure has also been formally added to the agenda
• Novation (IAS 39 / IFRS 9) — removed from work plan (issued in second quarter of 2013)

Updates to post-implementation reviews

• IFRS 3 — Request for information is expected in the fourth quarter of 2013.

A Standard on revenue recognition is expected to be issued in the third quarter of 2013.

Click for IASB work plan dated 29 July 2013 (link to IASB website). We have updated our project pages to reflect the updated work plan and other known developments.