We recently looked at a think-piece on the virtue of simplicity and concision in financial reporting… …and to extend that train of thought, I came across an article titled Less is More in Standard-Setting, written by Peter Reilly , a non-executive director at the UK Endorsement Board. Here are some extracts: Well yes, but getting…

As part of its activities, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) organizes a forum of enforcers from 38 different European jurisdictions, all of whom carry out monitoring and review programs similar to those carried out here by the Canadian Securities Administrators. ESMA last year published some extracts from its confidential database of enforcement decisions…

Let’s dip once more into the Inside Standard Setting blog of Armand Capisciolto, Chair of Canada’s Accounting Standards Board, and a recent post titled International Relationships Matter!: The references there are to accounting standard setting, this being the blog’s focus, but it could also be a tacit acknowledgement that disclosure-related standard setting is relatively more…

It’s time now for another collection of IFRS-related tweets (as I still call postings on Elon Musk’s lamentably rebranded “X”), presented here in their original form with all misspellings, oddities and possible obscenities intact. First of all, an intriguing addition in our long-running series of instances of IFRS being used as an acronym for something…

Political Uncertainty Looms Over PCAOB as SEC Leadership Shifts, announces the headline of a recent article on the website of the New York State Society of CPAs. Here are some extracts: And then, as subsequently reported by the Financial Times: Canadian Accountant weighed in: As we’ve seen most recently in the area of climate-related disclosure,…

The Canadian Accounting Hall of Fame has announced its latest batch of inductees: In the “founders of the profession” category, we have R. Douglas (Doug) Thomas, who passed away in 2004: “a transformative figure in Canadian and international accounting, known for his visionary leadership and commitment to advancing financial reporting and auditing standards. Over a…

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency recently gave us a notable example of deficient accounting-related record-keeping… …and the Trump administration continues in its uniquely charmless way to provide material falling within the broad scope of this blog. You know how we’ve all believed, or claimed to believe, that financial and economic information is useful to…

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: Note the reference in…

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…