Ser pan comido, or: IFRS through idioms!

Earlier this year, I built an article around the following extract from a Hans Hoogervorst speech: Given the voluntary nature of IFRS adoption, we like to believe that the adherence to our Standards is a reflection of the quality and inclusiveness of our work. More importantly, most of our stakeholders resist the temptation of modifying…

IFRS: the devil has the best details

We can all agree that the only thing that matters in implementing any aspect of IFRS is to proceed with a broad, sweeping vision, focusing entirely on the big picture and ignoring all the small stuff. That’s really all I wanted to say today, so I’ll wrap it up there. Oh wait, I’m being informed…

Accounting for girlfriends – revisited!

I don’t know if it’s entirely a compliment to the rest of this blog that one of the most all-time popular posts (at the time of writing, it’s 11th out of more than 360, with over 1,000 views) is the one I wrote some years ago on Accounting for Girlfriends… I feel a little guilty…

Hans got mail!

Courtesy of my mole at the IASB, I’m honoured to be publishing for the first time a WikiLeaks-worthy treasure trove of correspondence to and from the office of Chair Hans Hoogervorst. Read along now and dive as no mere civilian ever has before into the deep and complex waters of standard-setting. Dear Mr. Hoogervorst Every…

It’s held for sale, and I don’t mean in two years’ time!

A European example of issues arising in applying IFRS 5 As part of its activities, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) organizes a forum of enforcers from 30 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…

The beautiful game, of accounting for the beautiful game

PWC has issued Accounting for typical transactions in the football industry: Issues and solutions under IFRS. I was certainly surprised that a sufficient readership exists for such a seemingly narrowly-targeted publication. The foreword suggests it’s aimed primarily at those toiling within the industry itself: “We hope you find this publication useful in understanding the accounting…

More on terms of leases, if maybe not of endearment

As we’ve discussed on many past occasions, the IASB has issued IFRS 16 Leases, effective for annual reporting periods beginning on or after January 1, 2019. We looked here at some matters relating to determining the lease term. This is: the non-cancellable period of a lease, together with both: (a) periods covered by an option…