Details are below.

Topic: Accounting for Financial Instruments: Recent Developments and the Latest Proposals From the FASB and IASB Date and time: Tuesday, 29 March 2011, 2:00pm - 3:30pm (US Eastern) More information on the webcast and registration: click here

Topic: Quarterly Accounting Roundup: An Update of Important Developments Date and time: Thursday, 31 March 2011, 2:00pm - 3:30pm (US Eastern) More information on the webcast and registration: click here

 

The following Deloitte publications are now available:

Global publications

• Updated IASB Project Insights:
  • Consolidation (PDF 57k)
  • Joint arrangements (PDF 63k)
  • Post-employment benefits (PDF 88k)

Deloitte (Japan)

• Japanese translation of IFRS in Focus – IASB and FASB issue joint proposals on impairment of financial assets (PDF 236k)

Deloitte (United States)

• IFRS Insights: February 2011 (PDF 288k)

 

We've posted Deloitte observer notes from the first day of the meeting, which was an IASB-only meeting (click through for direct access to the notes):

Tuesday, 15 February 2011 (IASB only)

• Consolidation and Joint Arrangements
• Effective date and early application of forthcoming IFRS 10, IFRS 11, IFRS 12, IAS 27 (revised 2011) and IAS 28 (revised 2011)
• Post-employment Benefits
• Presentation of remeasurements
• Feedback on tentative decisions to date
• Project status
• Effective date of any amendments and transitional requirements
• Financial Instruments: Impairment
• Disclosures — Write-off policy
• Disclosures — Stress testing
• Disclosures — Credit quality of financial assets
• Disclosures — Vintage information

Click here to go to the preliminary and unofficial Notes Taken by Deloitte Observers for the entire meeting.

These briefing notes provide summaries of all IFRSs issued at 1 January 2011 at a high level and in non-technical language. It's specially prepared for chief executives, members of audit committees, company directors and others who want a broad overview of IFRSs and of the business implications of implementing them. The electronic PDF is available in the eIFRS Online Subscriber Area of the IASB's website for access by both Comprehensive and eIFRS subscribers.

 

Overall, 484 constituents participated in these meetings. European constituents were also invited to provide their feedback on the Draft ED using an online questionnaire. Overall, 133 constituents completed the questionnaire, including 24 constituents who did not participate in the meetings.

EFRAG has now issued a feedback report summarising the views expressed by European constituents. Some of the results were the following (quotes from the report's executive summary):

"The European constituents in all locations consistently questioned whether a new presentation model was really needed, especially considering the costs involved. [...] The European constituents in several locations mentioned that their preliminary assessment of costs to implement certain aspects of the proposals and the costs to maintain the new presentation model would be comparable to the effort associated with the initial adoption of IFRSs in Europe." "European constituents in all locations consistently expressed a very strong view that, prior to proceeding with the presentation matters, the IASB should address the fundamental issues related to performance reporting, namely, what constitutes performance and what is the impact of the business model on it; where and how should the line be drawn between profit and other comprehensive income (OCI), and whether reclassification of OCI items (recycling) is needed." "The European constituents were generally split in views as to whether or not the IASB should develop one generic presentation model for all industries or consider developing industry-specific models." "The European constituents generally believed that the proposals in the Draft ED would result in too much detail on the face of primary statements. This would obscure key messages and would complicate rather than improve the communication between an entity and its stakeholders." "The majority of European constituents participating in the outreach meetings were against mandating the direct method for presenting operating cash flows."

Please click for EFRAG press release (link to EFRAG website) and the full report (PDF 732k).

Technical Information Papers (TIPs) are designed to provide technical guidance for valuation professionals on generally accepted best practice, but do not provide valuation training or instruction.

The objective of the exposure draft is to provide guidance on the application of the 'Depreciated Replacement Cost' (DRC) method of valuation, the most common valuation method under the cost approach. The cost approach estimates value using the economic principle that a buyer will pay no more for an asset than the cost to obtain an asset of equal utility, whether by purchase or by construction. It can be applied to a wide range of asset types and is frequently used when there is either very limited or no evidence of sales transactions (such as the valuation of specialised assets arising in business combinations).

The exposure draft:

• is proposed to replace the current IVSC Guidance Note GN8 "The Cost Approach for Financial Reporting - (DRC)", but extend the guidance on DRC to a wider variety of circumstances
• identifies depreciated replacement cost as the most common method of valuation under the cost approach, but asks whether DRC is the only method of applying the cost approach
• proposes to replace 'external obsolescence' with 'economic obsolescence' as one of the three main types of deduction for obsolescence when applying the DRC approach (the others being physical deterioration and functional obsolescence).

Comments on the exposure draft close on 31 May 2011. Click for IVSC press release (link to IVSC website).

It contains official pronouncements issued at 1 January 2011, including IFRSs with an effective date after 1 January 2011 but not the IFRSs they will replace. Click here (link to IASB website) for further information and registering your interest to be notified of the publication of International Financial Reporting Standards IFRS 2011.

The coming soon section of the IASB's upcoming publications page also features IFRS – Offizielle Verlautbarungen zum 1. Januar 2010, the German language translation of the Red Book 2010. Click here (link to IASB website, you need to scroll down to the second publication) for further information and registering your interest to be notified of the publication of IFRS – Offizielle Verlautbarungen zum 1. Januar 2010.

Also, the IFRS Foundation informs of the publication of new Kazakh and Armenian translations. The Kazakh translation of the 2010 unaccompanied IFRSs can be accessed via the IASB's Official IFRS translations webpage. The Armenian translation of the 2009 unaccompanied IFRSs can be accessed by eIFRS/Comprehensive subscribers in the secure subscriber area on eIFRS (you will be required to provide your login details).

The RDR involves the same recognition, measurement and presentation requirements as IFRS, but with significantly reduced disclosures (based on the disclosure relief included in the IFRS for SMEs). Malaysia has recently proposed a similar RDR regime for certain entities, and New Zealand is also considering moving towards an RDR regime for its non-publicly accountable entities.

Following is an extract from the AASB's letter, publicly tabled at last week's February 2011 AASB meeting:

"In broad terms, it is reasonable to say that RDR, in terms of the quality of financial reporting it produces, is not inferior to IFRS for SMEs on disclosure and accepts the rigor of IFRS for recognition and measurement. Indeed, we would say RDR offers two benefits for the IASB. Firstly, it represents a significant field test for future changes in IFRS for SMEs disclosures... Secondly, where RDR and IFRS for SMEs requirements are the same, which is the great majority of circumstances, RDR actually provides field tests for the IASB's future consideration of not-for-profit reporting in the private sector by non-publicly accountable entities. [We are] seeking consideration of the idea that where a country establishes differential reporting requirements that comply with IFRS in terms of recognition, measurement and presentation and are no less onerous than IFRS for SMEs for disclosure, they are not tarred with the 'outsiders' brush..."

Click for AASB Letter to the IASB (link to AASB website).

The existing EFRAG TEG members who were available for reappointment — Gabi Ebbers, Araceli Mora, Anna Sirocka and Andy Simmonds — have been reappointed. Andy Simmonds is a partner in the National Accounting and Audit department of Deloitte in London. Please click for an overview of all TEG members and EFRAG press release (PDF 59k).

 

With the decisions connected with the use of IFRSs expected to be made during 2011 for the United States and in or around 2012 for Japan, the ASBJ and the FASB updated each other with the recent developments in their respective convergence projects with the IASB and exchanged views on the a number of IASB projects.

Click for FASB press release (link to FASB website).