News

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ICAEW studies IFRS implementation in Europe

06 Mar 2007

The European Commission has asked the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) to analyse the implementation of IFRSs across the EU.

The project team, which is led by David Cairns, is reviewing the IFRS consolidated financial statements of 200 stock exchange listed companies. The project team would like help in identifying non-listed companies that have published IFRS consolidated financial statements or IFRS legal entity financial statements. It also is keen to hear from EU companies (or their auditors) that have used fair value accounting for financial instruments in national GAAP financial statements (as permitted by the Fair Value Directive). The ICAEW study will also incorporate the views of preparers, users, and auditors of IFRS financial statements as well as the experiences of securities and other regulators. David Cairns is keen to hear from EU companies that have implemented IFRSs, auditors who have audited IFRS financial statements, and investors, lenders and analysts who have had to use IFRS information.
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Online version of IFRSs now available in an improved format

06 Mar 2007

Annual subscriptions to eIFRS from the IASC Foundation are now available.

eIFRS is the electronic consolidated edition of the IASB's International Financial Reporting Standards (including International Accounting Standards and Interpretations) and accompanying documents. eIFRS gives you immediate online access to HTML versions of all of the most up-to-date material issued by the IASB. The standards are searchable, extensively hyperlinked, and include education material. Follow this link to visit eIFRS: http://eifrs.iasb.org.
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Agenda for 7-9 March 2007 IFRIC meeting

05 Mar 2007

The International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) will meet at the IASB's offices in London on Thursday and Friday 8-9 March 2007. Also, on the afternoon of Wednesday 7 March 2007, a meeting will be held, for those IFRIC members wishing to attend, to discuss the drafting of future recommendations for the IFRIC agenda.

There is no requirement for a quorum, and neither technical decisions nor agenda decisions will be made. The purpose of the meeting is to expedite the business of the IFRIC by assisting the staff to identify and analyse the issues arising in practice. On all three days, the meetings are open to the public and will be webcast. The tentative agenda is shown below.

7-9 March 2007, London Wednesday -- 7 March 2007 - afternoon only

  • IAS 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement – Hedging future cash flows with purchased options 
The issue: How should hedge effectiveness be measured when a purchased option in its entirety is designated as a hedging instrument to hedge variability in future cash flows? Specifically, can a 'hypothetical derivative' approach be used in assessing and measuring hedge effectiveness? That approach requires an entity to take into account the time value of the option when it determines changes in the fair value of the hedged item in assessing and measuring hedge effectiveness.
  • IAS 18 Revenue – Customer contributions 
The issue: How should a government or private sector utility company account for customer contributions that arise when the utility requires the customer to provide either an infrastructure asset or cash to fund the acquisition and/or construction of such an asset in order to obtain connection to the utility company's network.
  • Preliminary discussion of IFRIC issues
    • IAS 39 – Hedging multiple risks with a single derivative hedging instrument 
    The issue: When a single derivative hedging instrument is used to hedge more than one different type of risk, does IAS 39 allow an entity to impute notional cash flows to split the fair value of the derivative hedging instrument into multiple components for the purposes of assessing and measuring hedge effectiveness?
    • IAS 39 – Scope of IAS 39 paragraph 11A 
    The issue: Does IAS 39 paragraph 11A apply to all contractual arrangements that contain one or more embedded derivatives? In particular, does that paragraph apply to hybrid contracts that contain financial or non-financial hosts outside the scope of IAS 39?
    • IAS 18 Revenue – Gaming transactions 
    The issue: How should a gaming institution account for bets or wagers received? Do such transactions give rise to revenue or are unsettled wagers financial instruments that should be accounted for using IAS 39? IFRIC members will discuss any alternative views or treatments that they feel have sufficient merit to be included in a staff paper to be presented to the IFRIC. IFRIC members will also be asked whether, in their experience, widespread divergence exists in this area.

Thursday 8 March 2007

Friday 9 March 2007 - Morning Only

  • IAS 21 Foreign Exchange: Hedging a net investment in a foreign operation
  • Review of Tentative Agenda Decisions published in January IFRIC Update
    • IAS 17 Leases – Sale and leasebacks with repurchase agreements
    • IAS 19 Employee Benefits – Special wage tax
    • IAS 36 Impairment of Assets – Identifying cash generating units in the retail industry
    • IAS 39 – Written options in retail energy contracts
    • IAS 39 – Assessing hedge effectiveness of an interest rate swap in a cash flow hedge
  • Staff Recommendations for Tentative Agenda Decisions
    • IFRS 3 Business Combinations – Re-assessments on a business combination
    • IAS 1 Presentation of Financial Statements and IAS 39 – Current or non-current presentation of derivatives not designated as hedging instruments in effective hedges
    • IAS 16 Property, Plant and Equipment and IAS 18 – Sale of assets held for rental
    • IAS 19 Employee Benefits – Curtailments and negative past service costs (Agenda paper 9(iv))
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Deloitte global CEO nominee, new Chairman of the Board

04 Mar 2007

The Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Board has announced the approval of the nomination of James H. Quigley as the next Global Chief Executive Officer of Deloitte, to succeed William G. Parrett, whose term ends on 31 May 2007.

Mr. Quigley is currently CEO, Deloitte & Touche USA, LLP. Mr. Quigley's nomination is now subject to a vote by the member firm partners worldwide. Also announced was the approval of John P. Connolly as the new Chairman of the Board of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. Mr. Connolly will succeed Mr. Piet Hoogendoorn, who has been Chairman since June 2000 and whose term also finishes on 31 May 2007. Click for Press Release (PDF 28k).
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Special edition IAS Plus Newsletter on IFRS 1 amendment

04 Mar 2007

Deloitte's IFRS Global Office has published a special edition of our IAS Plus Newsletter titled Relief Proposed for Measuring Investments in Subsidiaries on First-time Adoption.

On 25 January 2007, the IASB published an Exposure Draft that would amend IFRS 1 First-time Adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards. The proposals respond to concerns about difficulties encountered by parent entities in measuring the cost of investments in subsidiaries when adopting IFRSs for the first time. This newsletter explains the proposals. The IASB has requested comments by 27 April 2007. Click for IAS Plus Publication (PDF 107k).
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Panelists named for SEC's IFRS 'roadmap' roundtable

03 Mar 2007

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has announced the details of its upcoming roundtable on the IFRS 'roadmap'.

The roundtable will take place on 6 March 2007 from 10:00 am to approximately 5:30 pm EST, at Commission headquarters, 100 F Street, NE, Washington, D.C. SEC Chairman Christopher Cox and European Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services Charlie McCreevy will each provide opening remarks for the roundtable.The roundtable itself will feature three panel discussions on topics related to the potential effects of a co-existence of IFRS and US GAAP models in the US capital markets. The programme:

6 March 2007 US SEC Roundtable on IFRSs

10:00 am Opening Remarks

  • SEC Chairman Christopher Cox
  • European Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services Charlie McCreevy

10:45 am The Effect on the Capital Raising Process in the US Capital Markets

  • J. Richard Blackett, Citigroup Global Markets, Inc.
  • Neri Bukspan, Standard & Poor's
  • Nicolas Grabar, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP
  • David B. Kaplan, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
  • Roberta Karmel, Brooklyn Law School
  • Catherine R. Kinney, NYSE Group Inc.
  • Ken Pott, Morgan Stanley
  • Samuel J. Ranzilla, KPMG LLP

1:45 pm The Effect on Investors in the US Capital Markets

  • Trevor Harris, Morgan Stanley
  • Dennis Johnson, CalPERS
  • Gregory J. Jonas, Moody's Investors Services
  • Joseph P. Joseph, Putnam Investments
  • Christian Leuz, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago
  • Joel S. Osnoss, Deloitte & Touche LLP
  • Stephen M. Todd, Ernst & Young Global

3:45 pm The Effect on Issuers in the US Capital Markets

  • Meredith B. Cross, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP
  • Robert V. Deere, Royal Dutch Shell plc
  • Denis Duverne, AXA
  • Phillip R. Jones, E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company
  • Donald T. Nicolaisen, Member of various Boards of Directors and Audit Committees
  • William F. Widdowson, UBS AG

Materials related to the roundtable including the day's agenda and a list of participants are accessible at www.sec.gov/spotlight/ifrsroadmap.htm. Real time audio and video webcasts will be accessible at www.sec.gov/news/otherwebcasts.shtml. Click for SEC Press Release (PDF 36k).
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IAASB exposure draft on related parties

02 Mar 2007

The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) has invited comments on an exposure draft of a proposed International Standard on Auditing (ISA) 550 Related Parties.

The IAASB is also seeking comments on proposed ISA 570 Going Concern, which has been redrafted in the new style designed to enhance the clarity of IAASB pronouncements. The related party ED provides guidance on an auditor's consideration of related parties and related party transactions in an audit of financial statements. It includes a new definition of a 'related party'. Under the ED, an auditor has three objectives in considering related parties: to obtain sufficient evidence about the required accounting and disclosure of related party information and transactions; to understand how related party transactions and relationships affect the view given by the financial statements; and to identify fraud risk factors arising from related party relationships that may require further consideration. Comments the ED of ISA 550 are requested by 30 June 2007. Comments on the ED of proposed ISA 570 are requested by 31 May 2007. Click for:
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New members appointed to EFRAG

28 Feb 2007

The Supervisory Board of the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has approved the composition of the EFRAG Technical Expert Group (TEG) effective 1 April 2007.

The composition is as follows:

  • Stig Enevoldsen, Auditor, Denmark - TEG Chairman (reappointed)
  • Mike Ashley, Auditor, member of the UK ASB (reappointed)
  • Alan Dangerfield, Industry, Switzerland (new appointment)
  • Francoise Flores, Industry, France
  • Manuel Garcia-Ayuso, Academic, Spain
  • Catherine Guttmann, Insurance Advisor, France (reappointed)
  • Roberto Monachino, Banking specialist, Italy
  • Hans Schoen, Auditor, The Netherlands (new appointment)
  • Thomas Seeberg, Industry, Germany (reappointed)
  • Anna Sirocka, Auditor, Poland
  • Mike Starkie, Industry, UK (reappointed)
  • Carsten Zielke, User, Germany

 

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IFAC lends its support to the IFRS for SMEs

27 Feb 2007

At its meeting last week in New York City, the Board of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) agreed to assist the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in obtaining feedback on its proposed International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) for Small and Medium-sized Entities (SMEs) through field testing and other means.

At the meeting, Paul Pacter, IASB Director of Standards for SMEs, outlined the proposed IFRS for SMEs. "Among other matters, Mr. Pacter urged all Board members and regional accountancy organizations to encourage responses from their respective constituencies on the proposed standard and perceived challenges to its adoption."

IFAC President Fermin del Valle stated: IFAC is highly supportive of this project and recognizes the considerable progress made. To ensure that the final standard meets the needs of the SMP/SME marketplace, it is crucial that IFAC and its members help the IASB seek out and capture the views of all relevant constituents, primarily SMEs, SMPs, and users of SME financial statements.
Click for:
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Forum of Firms paper on application of IFRSs

25 Feb 2007

IFAC's Forum of Firms has released a new good practices document entitled Perspectives on the Global Application of IFRS.

Launched in January 2001, the Forum of Firms (FOF) is an organisation of international firms that perform audits of financial statements that are or may be used across national borders. The new FOF guidance document was developed by the FOF's Transnational Auditors Committee, which is chaired by P Nicholas Fraser of Deloitte (France). It is based on interviews with ten Forum members, illustrates the progress made with IFRSs, and sets out examples of good practices that the network firms are implementing. Click Download the Guidance Document (PDF 192k).

When the document refers to IFRSs, it includes not only IFRSs as issued by the IASB but also:

  • IFRS as adopted by the European Union
  • Australian GAAP (which incorporates Australian equivalents to IFRS)
  • Hong Kong Financial Reporting Standards
  • South African GAAP (which closely follows IFRS)

"This does not mean that the firms endorse departures from IFRS as issued by the IASB. Ideally, the firms would prefer all countries adopting IFRS to do so without variation. But the firms recognise the practical reality that these limited differences in IFRS frameworks exist."

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