On climate, will the real Mark Carney please stand up? requested the title of a recent Globe and Mail article. Written by Jeffrey Jones, it surveys the record and current stance of Canada’s new Prime Minister in a number of climate- and sustainability-related areas. The following passage relates to corporate reporting: Mr. Carney has often…
The IFRS Foundation recently issued its 2024 annual report, including the audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2024. Among the items of interest: in 2024 the Foundation secured new multi-year philanthropic grants totaling £7.0 million for ISSB-related activities, compared with £2.9 million in 2023; it seems that some or all of these…
Around 2007, when Canada was heading toward IFRS adoption, I helped edit a book comparing then-Canadian GAAP to the international standards, and I recall the lead author inserting a sentence into the preface to the effect that although the United States hadn’t yet moved to adopt IFRS, the climate was such that it wouldn’t be…
A cringingly awful (but at least provocative) column by Gus Carlson in The Globe and Mail posits that “The new hate for Elon Musk is childish and hypocritical.” The skepticism isn’t so new on this blog actually. But anyway, Carlson’s article surveys some of the recent anti-Tesla activism, and goes on: To the extent that…
It’s possible to appreciate the broad purpose of IAS 38 Intangible Assets while still finding it inherently rather peculiar… For example, anyone who’s had to spend time puzzling over how an amount of purchase price consideration might be allocated between, say, customer lists, marketing rights, patents and/or goodwill will appreciate that such exercises are often…
It’s darkly amusing (sort of) that the highest-profile recent example of deficient accounting-related record-keeping comes from the ever-wondrous heart of American democracy, as summarized here by the New York Times: Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has deleted hundreds more claims from its mistake-plagued “wall of receipts,” erasing $4 billion in additional savings that the…
In a recent edition of his Inside Standard Setting, Armand Capisciolto, Chair of Canada’s Accounting Standards Board, pulled off one of the all-time memorable segues: …it’s hard to argue that Led Zeppelin IV isn’t one of the greatest rock albums of all time. It features “Rock and Roll,” “Black Dog,” “Stairway to Heaven,” and “When…
The US SEC recently issued a “Staff Statement on Meme Coins,” Let’s look at some extracts: A “meme coin” is a type of crypto asset inspired by internet memes, characters, current events, or trends for which the promoter seeks to attract an enthusiastic online community to purchase the meme coin and engage in its trading. Although…
Well, it’s pretty obvious that it’s effectively all over already for the ISSB and its standards so, thanks, that’s all I wanted to say today. Oh wait, I’m picking up some interference… (November 2024)The ESG Train is Leaving the Station – Are You on it? (May 2024) About a year and a half into the…
Even when one doesn’t care about the specific issues being discussed, the IFRS comment letter process is an informative case study in the diversity of human thought… Take for example the recent exposure draft on the equity method of accounting, intended to “provide preparers with solutions to long-standing application difficulties.” I already commented that I…
