The IFRS Foundation has announced the publication of the following translations:

• French translation of the Exposure Draft ED/2011/4 Investment Entities the Exposure Draft ED/2011/5 Government Loans (Proposed amendments to IFRS 1); the exposure drafts can be accessed via the IASB's Comment on a proposal webpage.
• Slovak translation of the 2011 Briefing for Chief Executives, Audit Committees & Board of Directors; the Slovak translation is available in the subscriber area on eIFRS.

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) has released new standards on service concession arrangements and annual improvements.

IPSAS 32 Service Concession Arrangements: Grantor seeks to address a lack of international guidance on how governments and other public sector entities should report their involvement in service concession arrangements, often used to build the infrastructure necessary to maintain and improve critical public services.

IPSAS 32 requires that service concession arrangement assets and their related financing are reported by the public sector entity, using an approach that is consistent with that used for the operator's accounting in Interpretation IFRIC 12 Service Concession Arrangements. IPSAS 32 uses the principles in IFRIC 12 for determining which entity (grantor or operator) should recognise an asset in a service concession arrangement, in order to ensure that the grantor recognises a service concession asset it controls.

The IPSASB has also published Improvements to IPSASs 2011. The IPSASB's improvements project is modeled on the IASB's annual improvements process. The improvements amend existing IPSASs to maintain alignment with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs), as well as other general improvements.

IPSAS 32 applies to annual financial statements covering periods beginning on or after 1 January 2014, but may be applied earlier. The amendments made by Improvements to IPSASs 2011 are applied for annual financial statements covering periods beginning on or after 1 January 2013, but may be applied earlier.

Click for IPSASB press release (link to IFAC website).

The cooperative agreement for the exchange of confidential information will enhance the supervisory oversight of auditors and accounting firms performing in both jurisdictions. PCAOB Chairman James R. Doty commented that, "With the significant presence of Israeli companies on U.S. exchanges, this agreement with the Israel Securities Authority will better protect U.S. investors. It is an important achievement in expanding our cooperative agreements into the Middle East, and I hope that other regulators elsewhere will soon follow."

Click for:

• PCAOB press release (link to PCAOB website)
• Full text of the Statement of Protocol (PDF 143k, link to PCAOB website)

Click for:

• IFRS Compliance, Presentation and Disclosure Checklist 2011 (Excel file, Zipped 3,385k)

 

A 'Q&A Report' has been published containing a summary of audience questions submitted during the live webcast, together with suggested responses. Topics covered in the report include the IASB's projects on hedge accounting, revenue recognition, offsetting and investment entities, and the IASB's agenda consultation.

Click for:

• Q&A Report (PDF 165k)
• Archive recording of the webcast (registration required)
• Dbriefs programme information.

 

The IASB and the CFA Institute will discuss the IASB's first public agenda consultation, how the Board will decide what should be on its agenda and why investor input is crucial in that process.

Full details of the webcast are provided below:

Topic:	Setting the IASB's Agenda for the Next Decade: Investor Update and Input Opportunity
Date and time:	Wednesday, 9 November 2011 3:00pm GMT, which is 10:00am ET
More information and registration:	Click Here

A staff paper to be considered at the meeting discusses the NZASB's response to the report Losing the excess baggage: reducing disclosures in financial statements to what's important issued by The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) and the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants (NZICA) in July 2011. The paper notes that "although the project was commissioned by the IASB, with the expectation that it would be exposed for comment, it appears that the IASB is unlikely to take any action before it considers comments on its Agenda Consultation 2011."

The staff paper explores the options available to ensure any advice or guidance issued by the NZASB is of sufficient standing that not only preparers but also auditors and regulators will consider that it is persuasive, whilst at the same time ensuring New Zealand's ongoing compliance with IFRSs in relation to for-profit entities. The paper discusses the options of a domestic New Zealand standard or Interpretation, an explanatory guide or an informal communication such as a communiqué.

The staff paper recommends the NZASB issue an explanatory guide, which would not have any legal status but which would provide guidance on applying the materiality concept in relation to disclosures. The guidance would be based on the recommendations in the ICAS-NZICA report that users of IFRSs should consider separately (i) whether an item is material and (ii) whether individual pieces of information are material such that they warrant disclosure in the additional notes. Consideration would be given to individual pieces of information relating to material items, as well as information that does not relate to specific items but is required for the financial statements to meet the objective of financial reporting. It would not extend to the removal of various IFRS disclosures identified for possible removal in the report.

This New Zealand development gives additional impetus to global calls for disclosure relief in financial reporting.

Click for:

• Access to the papers for the meeting (link to the New Zealand External Reporting Board website)
• Our New Zealand country page.

 

The French national standard setter Autorité des Normes Comptables (ANC) has now published a proposal for the simplification of the accounting requirements for small listed companies.

The ANC claims that the application of full IFRSs is often burdensome for small listed companies. Therefore, it would be preferable to adapt their accounting obligations to their size, without either diminishing the quality of the reporting or introducing a new set of accounting principles. Thus, the ANC is not suggesting to introduce a set of accounting standards such as the IFRS for SMEs which is, moreover, designed for unlisted entities. This would, according to the ANC, deprive small listed companies of the benefit of a single set of internationally recognised accounting standards, namely full IFRS.

The ANC sees a viable alternative in the simplification of the existing accounting framework. Two ways of simplifying IFRSs for small listed companies are suggested:

1. Reduce the volume of the notes by simplifying the current disclosure requirements under IFRSs.
2. Facilitate the preparation and improve the readability and relevance of the notes to the financial statements by offering an illustrative set of simplified financial statements.

The ANC makes detailed suggestions as to where disclosure requirements can be simplified and has compiled an illustrative set of financial statements.

Please click for (all links to ANC website):

• ANC press release:
  • English (PDF 92k)
  • French (PDF 92k)
• ANC proposal with details simplification suggestions and illustrative financial statements:
  • English (PDF 534k)
  • French (PDF 540k)