News

2007jul.gif Image

IASB July 2007 Board meeting agenda

07 Jul 2007

The International Accounting Standards Board will hold its July 2007 meeting at its offices, 30 Cannon Street, London, on Tuesday through Friday 17-20 July 2007. Presented below is the agenda for the meeting.

The meeting will be webcast live.

agenda.gif

17-20 July 2007, London

Tuesday 17 July 2007 (afternoon only)

Wednesday 18 July 2007 (afternoon only)

  • Financial Instruments Puttable at Fair Value and Obligations Arising on Liquidation – Re-deliberations of Exposure Draft: sweep issues
  • Annual Improvements Process
    • 1. Should IFRS 5 be amended to clarify the accounting in consolidated financial statements of a subsidiary classified as held for sale?
    • 2. Should IAS 36 be amended to conform the disclosures provided for value in use and fair value less costs to sell when discounted cash flow models are used?
    • 3. Should the guidance in IAS 17 relating to the classification of leases of land and buildings be amended?
    • 4. Should IAS 10 be amended to clarify why dividends declared after the balance sheet date are not liabilities?
    • 5. Should IAS 19 be amended to address an inconsistency relating to accounting for plan administration costs?
    • 6. Should the components of borrowing costs in IAS 23 be aligned with the definition in IAS 39?
    • 7. Should IAS 34 be amended to clarify that EPS disclosures need only be given when required by IAS 33?
    • The Board will also be asked to consider some alternative accounting models to address the issues it discussed at the June meeting relating to replanting obligations for biological assets.
    • Transitional provisions and whether early adoption should be encouraged for any or all of the proposed amendments.

Thursday 19 July 2007

  • IAS 27 Consolidated and Separate Financial Statements - Formation of a new parent entity
  • Post-employment Benefits – Discussion paper issues
    1. Definitions
    2. Classification of benefits in payment
    3. Benefit promises that include a 'higher of' option
    4. Issues relating to the measurement of defined return promises
    5. Update from the working group meeting
  • Income Taxes
    • The use of an undistributed or distributed rate to measure deferred tax assets and liabilities
    • Definitions of tax credits and investment tax credits
    • The definition and treatment of special deductions
  • Conceptual Framework – Measurement and Reporting Entity

Friday 20 July 2007 (morning only)

  • Liabilities – Amendments to IAS 37
    1. Distinguishing a liability from a business risk (including stand ready obligations)
    2. Uncertainty about the existence of a present obligation
    3. Constructive obligations
IFRIC (International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee) (blue) Image

Agenda for 12-13 July 2007 IFRIC meeting

06 Jul 2007

The International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) will meet at the IASB's offices in London on Thursday and Friday 12-13 July 2007. The meeting is open to the public and will be webcast.

The tentative agenda is shown below.

12-13 July 2007, London Thursday 12 July

  • IAS 18 Revenue - Customer contributions– Accounting for the receipt of customer contributions such as an asset (or cash towards the construction or acquisition of an asset) that is then used to provide an ongoing service or an ongoing supply of goods to the customer.
  • IAS 18 Revenue – Should interpretive guidance on identifying agency arrangements be provided.
  • IAS 27 Consolidated and Separate Financial Statements - De-mergers and other non-cash distributions
  • IFRS 2 Share-based Payment - Group cash-settled share-based payment transactions
    • Scheme 1 - The employees of the entity will receive cash payments that are based on the price of the equity instruments of the entity; and
    • Scheme 2 - The employees of the entity will receive cash payments that are based on the price of the equity instruments of the parent of the entity.
    Under both schemes, the parent of the entity (not the entity) has the obligation to make the cash payments to the employees.
  • Staff Recommendations for Tentative Agenda Decisions
    • IFRS 5 Non-current Assets Held for Sale and Discontinued Operations – Do the disclosure requirements of IFRS 7 Financial Instruments: Disclosures and IAS 19 Employee Benefits apply to non-current assets (or disposal groups) classified as held for sale and discontinued operations under IFRS 5.
    • IAS 19 Employee Benefits – Allocation of the effects of salary increases
Friday 13 July 2007 (morning only)
  • Review of Tentative Agenda Decisions Published in May 2007 IFRIC Update
    • IAS 12 Income Taxes – Deferred tax arising from un-remitted overseas earnings
    • IAS 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement – Gaming transactions
    • IAS 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement – Hedging future cash flows with purchased options
    • IAS 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement – Hedging multiple risks with a single derivative hedging instrument
    • IAS 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement – Scope of IAS 39 paragraph 11A
    • IAS 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement – AG 33(d)(iii) of IAS 39
    • IFRS 5 Non-current Assets held for Sale and Discontinued Operations – Plan to sell the controlling interest in a subsidiary
European Union (old) Image

New CESR database on all European listed shares

06 Jul 2007

The Committee of European Securities Regulators has launched a new database of information about all shares admitted to trading on EU Regulated Markets, over 7,000 companies in all.

Available information includes average daily turnover, number of daily transactions, free float, regulatory oversight authority, and country code. Open CESR Database in a new window.
IFRIC (International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee) (blue) Image

IFRIC issues Interpretation on pension asset ceiling

05 Jul 2007

The International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee has issued an Interpretation, IFRIC 14 'IAS 19 – The Limit on a Defined Benefit Asset, Minimum Funding Requirements and their Interaction'.

IFRIC 14 provides general guidance on how to assess the limit in IAS 19 Employee Benefits on the amount of a pension fund surplus that can be recognised as an asset.  It also explains how the pensions asset or liability may be affected when there is a statutory or contractual minimum funding requirement.

The Interpretation will standardise practice and ensure that entities recognise an asset in relation to a surplus on a consistent basis. No additional liability need be recognised by the employer under IFRIC 14 unless the contributions that are payable under the minimum funding requirement cannot be returned to the company.

IFRIC 14 is likely to have the most impact in countries that have a minimum funding requirement and where there are restrictions on a company's ability to get refunds or reduce contributions.

IFRIC 14 is effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2008. Earlier application is permitted.

Click for the Press Release (PDF 63k).

 

IFRIC (International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee) (blue) Image

IFRIC draft Interpretation on real estate sales

05 Jul 2007

The International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee has released for public comment a Draft Interpretation D21 'Real Estate Sales'.

IFRIC D21 Real Estate Sales aims to standardise accounting practice among real estate developers for sales of units, such as apartments or houses, 'off plan', that is, before construction is complete.

At present, real estate developers interpret IFRSs differently and record revenue for the sale of the units at different times. Some record revenue only when they have handed over the completed unit to the buyer, while others record revenue earlier, as construction progresses, by reference to the stage of completion of the development.

IFRIC D21 proposes that revenue should be recorded as construction progresses only if the developer is providing construction services, rather than selling goods (completed real estate units).

It proposes features that indicate that the seller is providing construction services. In many countries, these features tend currently not to be present in typical off plan sale agreements.

The comment deadline is 5 October 2007. Click for Press Release (PDF 39k).

 

SEC (old) Image

SEC staff review of IFRS financial statements

05 Jul 2007

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has published on its website observations of the SEC staff arising from their review of the annual reports for 2006 of more than 100 foreign private issuers containing financial statements prepared on the basis of International Financial Reporting Standards.

Staff comments relate to the following matters, among others:
  • Assertion of compliance with IFRSs. "In the vast majority of the companies we reviewed, the company's auditor opined on the company's compliance with the jurisdictional version of IFRS that the company used, but did not opine on the company's compliance with IFRS as published by the IASB."
  • Manner of presentation - income statement. Issues included descriptions of subtotals in the income statement, accounting policies for excluding items from operating income, and calculation of voluntary per-share measures.
  • Manner of presentation - cash flow statement. Issues included definition of cash equivalents and presentation of expenses outside of cash flow from operations.
  • Intercorporate investments. Accounting treatments for common control mergers, recapitalisations, reorganisations, acquisitions of minority interests, and similar transactions.
  • Consolidation. Exclusion of a subsidiary from consolidation.
  • Accounting policy decisions. Basis for choosing accounting policies that are not explicitly covered in IFRSs.
  • Specialised industries. 'Substantial variation' in accounting for insurance contracts and in the reporting of extractive industry exploration and evaluation activities.
  • Accounting policies regarding revenue recognition, intangible assets and goodwill, identifying and evaluating impairment, leases, contingent liabilities, and financial instruments.
  • Banks. Recognition of loan impairments by banks.
Click to (PDF 44k). The comment letters sent by the SEC staff to the companies whose IFRS financial statements were reviewed, and the company responses, are available on the SEC website at http://sec.gov/divisions/corpfin/ifrs_reviews.
Heads Up Image

Heads Up newsletter on recent SEC developments

04 Jul 2007

We have posted the (PDF 76k) published by Deloitte & Touche LLP (United States).

The newsletter, titled SEC Tackles a Wide Range of Topics, discusses the following recent SEC developments:
  1. the issuance of interpretive guidance for management's internal control evaluations,
  2. rule amendments for management's report on internal controls,
  3. proposed changes for smaller public companies,
  4. the establishment of an advisory committee to improve financial reporting, and
  5. proposals for requiring electronic filing and simplifications of Form D.
SEC (old) Image

SEC releases its proposal to drop the reconciliation for IFRS filers

03 Jul 2007

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has published the text of its proposal to accept from foreign private issuers their financial statements prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards ('IFRS') as published by the International Accounting Standards Board ('IASB') without reconciliation to generally accepted accounting principles ('GAAP') as used in the United States.

The proposal would amend Form 20-F and make conforming changes to Regulation S-X to accept financial statements prepared in accordance with the English language version of IFRS as published by the IASB without reconciliation to US GAAP when contained in the filings of foreign private issuers with the Commission. The proposal notes that "current requirements regarding the reconciliation to U.S. GAAP will not change for a foreign private issuer that uses a basis of accounting other than the English language version of IFRS as published by the IASB". Click to (PDF 296k). There is a 75-day comment period. The proposal includes a link for submitting comments electronically.
United Kingdom Image

Deloitte UK views on use of IFRS for SMEs in UK

02 Jul 2007

Deloitte & Touche (United Kingdom) has submitted a letter of comment to the UK Accounting Standards Board's invitation to comment on the way forward in the United Kingdom regarding accounting standards for unlisted companies.

Deloitte UK welcomes the IASB's SME Exposure Draft and supports the approach the IASB has taken in developing a simplified, self-contained set of accounting principles.

There is no case for two sets of wholly different accounting standards (IFRSs and UK GAAP) in the medium term in the UK, and we support the ASB's decision to consider an appropriate exit strategy for UK GAAP....

We support the continued use of a three-tier system in the UK and that it should be as follows:

  1. Full IFRSs for listed and publicly accountable groups and entities;
  2. IFRS for SMEs standard for large and medium private companies, including subsidiaries of listed and publicly accountable entities (the 'middle tier');
  3. FRSSE [UK's existing Financial Reporting Standard for Smaller Entities] for small companies.
Click to (PDF 483k).
iasplcs.gif Image

IAS Plus Newsletter on IFRIC 13

02 Jul 2007

Deloitte's IFRS Global Office has published a special edition IAS Plus Newsletter on (PDF 106k).

IFRIC 13 addresses the accounting by entities that provide their customers with incentives to buy goods or services by providing awards (called 'award credits' in the Interpretation) as part of a sales transaction. Common examples are airline and hotel loyalty schemes and credit card reward schemes. IFRIC 13 requires the entity that grants the awards to account for the sales transaction that gives rise to the award credits as a 'multiple element revenue transaction' and allocate the fair value of the consideration received or receivable between the award credits granted and the other components of the revenue transaction. This newsletter explains the requirements of IFRIC 13. You will find all Past IAS Plus Newsletters Here. You can sign up for Free Subscription by Email.

Correction list for hyphenation

These words serve as exceptions. Once entered, they are only hyphenated at the specified hyphenation points. Each word should be on a separate line.