The outreach events gave practitioners and others an opportunity to voice their opinions on topics considered in the discussion paper on the financial reporting of income tax (published in December 2011). These opinions will be considered in future proactive work on this topic.

The discussion paper provided possible enhancements to the requirements for financial reporting of income tax currently in IAS 12 Income Taxes. Overall, respondents noted that (1) existing guidance should be improved and (2) all exceptions allowed under IAS 12 should be removed.

The paper provided alternative approaches that could result in a replacement standard of IAS 12. The temporary difference approach was the best received, with participants noting it's consistency with the underlying principles of IFRS.

Overall, participants expressed their support in maintaining IAS 12 in order to:

Please click for access to the press release and the report, both available on the EFRAG website.

EFRAG received a large number of high-level candidatures and has been able to achieve a balanced composition both in professional background and in geographical origin for each of the working groups. In its July meeting EFRAG TEG (Technical Experts Group) approved the new compositions that are effective as of 1 September 2012.

Full lists of members of the working groups are available in the press release on the EFRAG website.

The outreach events gave practitioners and others an opportunity to voice their opinions on topics considered in the discussion paper on business combinations under common control (published in October 2011), before the final discussion paper was published.

The discussion paper included a comprehensive analysis of the issues related to the relevant IFRS literature. The paper detailed three different ways of looking at the problem, and the feedback statement highlights participants' perceptions of the strengths and weaknesses of each view.

View 1: IFRS 3 can always be applied by analogy. Three different variants have been identified within this view depending on the extent to which the recognition and measurement principles in IFRS 3 are deemed to be applicable.

View 2: Applying an analogy to IFRS 3 may not be appropriate because there could be difficulty in identifying an acquirer or the accounting outcome may not represent a faithful representation of the BCUCC transaction where the ultimate parent entity directs the selection of the accounting acquirer. Therefore, two accounting treatments could be applied under these unique circumstances: ‘fresh start’ accounting and a predecessor basis of accounting. The selection of an accounting treatment is dependent upon who the users are and what their information needs entail. That is ‘fresh start accounting’ could apply where users deem that the assessment of the prospects of future net cash inflows is best reflected through fair value measurement. A predecessor basis of accounting could be applied when the information needs of users are best served through a historical trend analysis of the income and cash flow statements and the statement of financial position.

View 3: The analogy to IFRS 3 may apply in specific circumstances like a change to previous economic decisions taken in relation to the users of the consolidated financial statements of the transferee. Such an approach is consistent with the objective of financial reporting which is to provide “information that is useful to existing and potential investors, lenders and other creditors in making decisions about providing resources to the entity. Those decisions involve buying, selling or holding equity and debt instruments, and providing or settling loans and other forms of credit.”

The input received during the outreach events and the comment letters on the discussion papers will form the basis for EFRAG’s re-deliberation of the issues. EFRAG will then decide about what further steps need to be taken before putting forward views to the IASB.

Please click for access to the press release and the report, both available on the EFRAG website.

The outreach event was part of a series of events held in various European cities in order to hear what practitioners and others thought about the topics considered in the discussion papers on business combinations under common control (published in October 2011) and improving the financial reporting of income tax (published in December 2011).

Please click for access to the report on the EFRAG website summarising all contributions to the discussion. Reports from the other outreach events of the series are currently also being made available. Please click for the reports from London (16 April), Amsterdam (17 April), Vienna (18 April), and Warsaw (15 May).

The input received during the outreach events and the comment letters on the discussion papers will form the basis for EFRAG’s re-deliberation of the issues. EFRAG will then decide about what further steps need to be taken before putting forward views to the IASB.

The role of the EFRAG IAWG is "to support EFRAG influencing the development of IFRS and IFRS interpretations on insurance specific matters and their application within Europe through technical analysis and consultation with organisation representatives of the insurance world in Europe and others". The size of the group is limited to up to 15 members.

The EFRAG IAWG meets once every two months (or as necessary) in Brussels.

For more information, see the press release on the EFRAG website.

The outreach event was part of a series of events held in various European cities in order to hear what practitioners and others thought about the topics considered in the discussion papers on business combinations under common control (published in October 2011) and improving the financial reporting of income tax (published in December 2011).

The discussion in Austria was hosted by the Austrian standard setter Austrian Financial Reporting and Auditing Committee (AFRAC). It included a summary of the tentative conclusions reached at AFRAC level regarding the BCUCC DP which will be included in their comment letter.

Please click for access to the report on the EFRAG website summarising all contributions to the discussion. Reports from the other outreach events of the series are currently also being made available. Please click for the reports from London (16 April), Amsterdam (17 April) and Warsaw (15 May).

The input received during the outreach events and the comment letters on the discussion papers will form the basis for EFRAG’s re-deliberation of the issues. EFRAG will then decide about what further steps need to be taken before putting forward views to the IASB.

The outreach event was part of a series of events held in various European cities in order to hear what practitioners and others thought about the topics considered in the discussion papers on business combinations under common control (published in October 2011) and improving the financial reporting of income tax (published in December 2011).

The discussion in Poland was characterised by many contributions from academics who in part even offered short presentations on their views. The EFRAG report not only includes a summary of the discussions at the outreach event, it also offers summaries of the academic viewpoints presented.

Please click for access to the report on the EFRAG website. Reports from the other outreach events of the series are currently also being made available. Please click for the report from the London outreach event held on 16 April 2012 and the report from the Amsterdam outreach event held on 17 April 2012.

The input received during the outreach events and the comment letters on the discussion papers will form the basis for EFRAG’s re-deliberation of the issues. EFRAG will then decide about what further steps need to be taken before putting forward views to the IASB.

The outreach event was part of a series of events held in various European cities in order to hear what practitioners and others thought about the topics considered in the discussion paper on improving the financial reporting of income tax (published in December 2011).

Since EFRAG had deliberately not taken a position in the discussion paper but rather attempted to provide a comprehensive analysis of the issues in order to stimulate a debate in Europe, the discussion was very open and comprehensive.

Please click for access to the report on the EFRAG website. Reports from the other outreach events of the series are currently also being made available. Please click for the report from the London outreach event held on 16 April 2012.

The input received during the outreach events and the comment letters on the discussion paper will form the basis for EFRAG’s re-deliberation of the issues. EFRAG will then decide about what further steps need to be taken before putting forward views to the IASB.

The annual review describes how EFRAG contributed last year to enhancing Europe’s influence in the development of IFRS and also looks back at the organisation's first 10 years of existence and last year's 10th anniversary.

Please click for access to the 2011 annual review on the EFRAG website.