News

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European Commission conference on accounting and auditing

10 Feb 2010

On 8 February 2010, the European Commission hosted a one-day conference on international developments in accounting and auditing.

The morning session focused on accounting issues, and the afternoon on auditing. In the morning session, the first panel discussed national experiences in implementing IFRSs. The second panel discussed the progress made towards the adoption of IFRSs. Click for:
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Agenda for February 2010 IASB meeting

09 Feb 2010

The IASB will hold its February 2010 regular monthly meeting at its offices in London on Monday to Friday 15-19 February 2010. The portion of the meeting on 16 February and afternoons of 17 and 18 February are joint meetings with FASB.

The meeting will be open to public observation and will be webcast. You can access the agenda on our February 2010 IASB meeting page.  We will also post Deloitte observer notes on this page as they are available.
The Standards Advisory Council will meet on 22-23 February. We previously posted the Agenda for the SAC Meeting.
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Trinidad and Tobago adopts the IFRS for SMEs

09 Feb 2010

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Trinidad and Tobago (ICATT) has adopted the IFRS for Small and Medium-sized Entities, as issued by the IASB, for use in Trinidad and Tobago for financial statements effective immediately, which includes 2009 and prior periods.

ICATT's announcement said that "the adoption of this Standard impacts the majority of the entities in Trinidad and Tobago and would simplify the level of accounting and auditing requirements for qualifying entities choosing to implement the Standard." Prior to adoption of the IFRS for SMEs, SMEs in Trinidad and Tobago used full IFRSs. Now, SMEs may choose either the IFRS for SMEs or full IFRSs. Click for Adoption Notice (PDF 336k).

 

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Deloitte IFRS newsletter in Chinese

09 Feb 2010

Deloitte China has published the Chinese translation of the following IAS Plus Update newsletter:

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Guyana adopts the IFRS for SMEs

08 Feb 2010

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Guyana has adopted the IFRS for Small and Medium-sized Entities, as issued by the IASB, for use in Guyana for financial statements for periods ending on or after 31 December 2009. SMEs may choose either the IFRS for SMEs or full IFRSs.

Click for Adoption Notice (PDF 462k).

 

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Roadmap for transition to IFRS-converged Indian standards

08 Feb 2010

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs of India has adopted a plan for phased transition to 'notified Indian standards that have been converged with IFRS' (notified standards) by listed and large Indian companies, other than banks and insurance companies.

Click for Ministry of Corporate Affairs Press Release(PDF 33k). Here is an overview:

 

PhaseDateWhich companies?
Phase 1 Opening balance sheet as at 1 April 2011*
  • Companies that are part of NSE Index - Nifty 50
  • Companies that are part of BSE Sensex - BSE 30
  • Companies whose shares or other securities are listed on a stock exchange outside India
  • Companies, whether listed or not, having net worth** of more than Rs 1,000 crore (1 crore = 10 million. Rs 1,000 crore = US$ 212,000,000)
Phase 2 Opening balance sheet as at 1 April 2013* Companies not covered in phase 1 and having net worth** exceeding Rs 500 crore
Phase 3 Opening balance sheet as at 1 April 2014* Listed companies not covered in the earlier phases (ie net worth** Rs 500 crore or less)
* If the financial year of a company commences at a date other than 1 April, then it shall prepare its opening balance sheet at the commencement of immediately following financial year.
** Balance sheet net worth under Indian GAAP, not market capitalisation

IFRS 1 requires at least one year of comparative IFRS financial statements when IFRSs are first adopted. It is unclear from the reference to 'opening balance sheet' in the Ministry's release whether, for instance, Phase 1 companies will be exempted from preparing comparative financial statements for year ended 31 March 2011 using the notified standards. Companies in the following categories will not be required to follow the notified standards (though they may voluntarily opt to do so) but need to follow only the 'notified accounting standards that are not converged with the IFRS':

  • Non-listed companies with a net worth of Rs 500 crores or less and whose shares or other securities are not listed on Stock Exchanges outside India
  • Small and Medium Companies ('SMCs').
A separate roadmap for banking and insurance companies is expected to be published by the end of February, 2010.
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Shortcomings in IFRS transition disclosures in Canada

07 Feb 2010

Canada's Ontario Securities Commission has published the results of its study of disclosures that have been made by 106 securities issuers in anticipation of their changeover from Canadian GAAP to IFRSs as of 1 January 2011.

The review suggests that issuers could do a better job in disclosing their progress toward the transition, and its potential effects, than was done in the 'Management Discussion and Analysis' sections of their 2008 annual and 2009 interim financial reports.

In 2008 MD&A, we expected issuers to have discussed the status of the key elements and timing of their IFRS changeover plan....

Overall, we found that issuers are not adequately disclosing information related to their IFRS transition efforts.

A summary of our findings is as follows:

  • 40% of issuers received a letter from staff questioning whether a changeover plan was in place as it was not evident from reading their MD&A disclosure. Given the short time remaining before the changeover date this raises concerns that issuers may not be able to comply with future filing obligations.
  • Of the 60% of issuers that discussed an IFRS changeover plan in their 2008 annual MD&A, approximately half simply provided a generic description of the plan without any direct application to their own circumstances. The most valuable information for investors is IFRS transition disclosure that is specific to the issuer.
  • 80% of issuers that discussed an IFRS changeover plan failed to describe significant milestones and anticipated timelines associated with each of the key elements of the plan. It is important that issuers discuss the timing associated with key elements so that investors can readily assess whether the project is progressing in accordance with the changeover plan.
  • 48% of issuers that discussed IFRS transition in 2008 annual MD&A failed to provide quarterly updates in 2009 interim MD&A on the progress related to their changeover plan. Investors need progress updates to assist them in assessing the likelihood that the issuer will be able to complete its IFRS conversion on time.

Click to download the study IFRS Transition Disclosure Review (Staff Notice 52-718) (PDF 442k).

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Agenda for JIG-FIAG meeting

06 Feb 2010

The IASB/FASB Joint International Group (JIG) on Financial Statement Presentation and the Financial Institutions Advisory Group (FIAG) will meet on Friday 12 February 2010 from 8:00am to 3:00pm EST (New York time) at the offices of the Financial Accounting Standards Board in Norwalk, CT USA.

The JIG consists of senior professionals with extensive experience in and responsibility for the preparation, analysis, audit, and regulation of financial statements. The FIAG advises on presentation issues from the perspective of those who analyse and prepare financial institution financial statements. Presented below is the agenda for the meeting.

Agenda for the Joint JIG-FIAG Meeting
12 February 2010, Norwalk, CT USA
  • Welcome, Introductions
  • Classification, Cohesiveness, Definitions
  • Disaggregation principle (nature, function, Statement of Financial Position)
  • Direct method: Statement of Cash Flows
  • Analysis of changes in Statement of Financial Position line items
  • Remeasurements
  • Transitional provisions
  • Package of decisions and illustration
  • Post Exposure Draft: outreach, field test, next steps
Agenda papers are available Here.

 

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Heads Up on climate change disclosures

06 Feb 2010

Deloitte United States has published an issue of the Heads Up newsletter SEC Issues Interpretive Guidance on Disclosures Related to Climate Change discussing the SEC's recent interpretive release outlining its views on applying existing disclosure rules to climate-change matters.

In addition to summarising the disclosure rules and regulations, the release discusses considerations for registrants that are determining whether climate change and its related consequences have triggered a disclosure requirement. Here are:

 

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Updated EFRAG 'endorsement status report'

05 Feb 2010

The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has updated its report showing the status of endorsement, under the EU Accounting Regulation, of each IFRS, including standards, interpretations, and amendments.

Click to download the Endorsement Status Report as of 4 February 2010 (PDF 119k). Eight IASB pronouncements await EC endorsement. You can always find the endorsement status report Here.

 

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