Regular readers may recall that a year ago, courtesy of my mole at the IASB, and without regard for my personal safety, I broke through a never-before-penetrated wall of secrecy and published a treasure trove of correspondence to and from the office of Chair Hans Hoogervorst. Here now, obtained at equal risk, is a further…

Well, that’s it with the serious articles for this year. It’s time now for another selection of real-life tweets, identified by my large and tireless team of researchers, presented here in their original form, typos and peculiarities and obscenities intact (the last installment was here). I’ve written in the past about the seemingly endless pool…

The UK’s Financial Reporting Council has published a report on its “Thematic Review: Impairment of Non-Financial Assets.” The specific focus was on disclosures relating to such impairments. The overview was that the FRC “found numerous instances of good practice across each aspect of disclosure – events and circumstances triggering an impairment loss, description of cash…

A European example of misclassified cash flows As part of its activities, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) organizes a forum of enforcers from 42 different European jurisdictions, all of whom carry out monitoring and review programs similar to those carried out here by the Canadian Securities Administrators. ESMA recently published some extracts from…

Here’s a recent story from the UK Independent news site: One month after the final departure of Thomas Cook flights, the auditors who signed off the travel firm’s accounts have admitted that £1.1bn “goodwill” was overstated. PwC, which audited Thomas Cook’s accounts from 2007 to 2016, and EY, which took over the role until the…

“Majority of Canadian accountants to vote Conservative” announced a Canadian Accountant article, just before our recent federal election. The article informed us: Six out of 10 Canadian accountants intend to vote for Andrew Scheer and the Conservative Party of Canada in the federal election on Monday. A poll conducted by Canadian Accountant reveals 20 per…

A European example of issues arising in applying IAS 36 As part of its activities, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) organizes a forum of enforcers from 42 different European jurisdictions, all of whom carry out monitoring and review programs similar to those carried out here by the Canadian Securities Administrators. ESMA recently published…

My regular search for IFRS content on Twitter recently directed me to an article on 19 Advantages and Disadvantages of Adopting IFRS. It’s dated May 2019, but by its nature immediately feels like a relic from a bygone age, one in which a US adoption of IFRS seemed like something more than a remote fantasy.…

Here’s the kind of disclosure we’ve probably all seen numerous times: Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP term and has been reconciled to profit / (loss) for the financial periods, being the most directly comparable measure calculated in accordance with IFRS. Management relies on adjusted EBITDA to better translate historical variability in our principal business activities…