The IASB intends to publish the traditional BV (the "Red Book") in the first quarter of 2012. The Blue Book will sell for £60 plus shipping (academic, developing country, and volume discounts apply). You will find more information and ordering details here.

The CFA Institute undertook a study regarding the quality of existing financial instruments risk disclosures, addressing credit, liquidity, market and hedging activities risk disclosures under IFRS 7. The report proposes general and specific recommendations for improving these risk disclosures, including:

• Executive summary. An 'Executive Summary' of risk disclosures should be provided outlining details of entity-wide risk exposure and effectiveness of risk management mechanisms across different risk types considered to be significant for specific business models
• Differentiated market risk categories. The components of market risk should be differentiated into more specific categories (i.e. interest rate, foreign currency and commodity) and treated with the same level of distinctiveness for reporting purposes as is the case with credit and liquidity risk under IFRS 7
• Improved alignment of qualitative and quantitative disclosures. Qualitative disclosures should better explain quantitative measurements
• Standardisation and assurance of quantitative disclosures. Standardised and adequately audited quantitative disclosures are required to improve comparability
• Improved and integrated presentation of disclosures. Integrated, centralised and tabular risk disclosures should be provided. For example, the report recommends disclosure of: a) the integration of risk exposure and risk management information; and b) interaction of different risk factors
• Areas for improvement of specific risk disclosures. These include the need to provide: a) informative entity-specific qualitative disclosures; b) improved and more meaningful sensitivity analysis; c) sufficient disaggregation to inform on respective risk exposures; d) full disclosure of risks associated with counterparties; and e) risk information related to off-balance sheet exposures
• Communication and not mere compliance. The report states "a principles-based definition of disclosure is not the antidote to fears about boilerplate and uninformative disclosures".

Part 2 of the report will be released at a later time and will provide a user perspective on the disclosures of derivatives and hedging activities.

Click for access to the report (link to CFA Institute website).

We have posted Deloitte observer notes from the meeting (click through for direct access to the notes):

Tuesday, 1 November 2011

• Leases (IASB-FASB)
  • Lessor accounting: Disclosures
  • Transition: Other considerations
  • Transition: Sale and leaseback

 

Click here to go to the preliminary and unofficial Notes Taken by Deloitte Observers for the entire meeting. The next IASB meeting is scheduled to occur on 7 November 2011.

The topics to be discussed are:

• Work plan update
• Future agenda and due process
• IFRS Interpretation Committee
• Global implementation of IFRSs
• Financial instruments
• Leases project
• Revenue project

Click for:

• Global Preparers Forum Meeting Agenda (link to IASB website)

The topic to be discussed is the Mandatory Effective Date of IFRS 9.

The Canadian Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), an independent agency of the Government of Canada that supervises and regulates Canadian banks, insurers, and federally registered private pension plans, has issued a letter in which it concludes entities which it regulates should not early adopt many standards recently issued by the IASB.

In making its decision, the OSFI considered a number of factors such as industry consistency, OSFI policy positions on accounting and capital, operational capacity and resource constraints of Federally Regulated Entities (FREs), the ability to benefit from improved standards arising from the financial crisis and the notion of a level playing field with other Canadian and international financial institutions. OSFI concluded that FREs should not early adopt the following new or amended IFRSs, but instead should adhere to their mandatory effective dates:

• The 'suite of five' standards on consolidation: IFRS 10 Consolidated Financial Statements, IFRS 11 Joint Arrangements, IFRS 12 Disclosure of Interests in Other Entities, IAS 27 Separate Financial Statements, IAS 28 Investments in Associates and Joint Ventures (effective 1 January 2013)
• IFRS 13 Fair Value Measurement (effective 1 January 2013)
• Amendment to IAS 19 Employee Benefits (effective 1 January 2013)
• Amendment to IAS 1 Presentation of Items of Other Comprehensive Income (effective 1 July 2012)

Click for:

• OSFI letter (link to the OSFI website, also available in French)
• Our Canada country page.

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)