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 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…
Let’s return to the IASB’s Principles of Disclosure discussion paper, for which the comment period closed in October…. I commented last time that it’s very much a document for a linear, paper-based world, barely acknowledging the impact of technology. This is how the IASB staff summed it up in a staff paper: Many respondents were…
We looked briefly last April at the IASB’s Principles of Disclosure discussion paper, for which the comment period closed in October…. Although accounting policy disclosures aren’t usually among the most decision-critical aspects of any particular set of financial statements, they often contribute very disproportionately to their overall volume. My anecdotal impression is that many larger…
How IFRS provides benefits to emerging jurisdictions From time to time (or perhaps more often than that) I cite various doubts or reservations about the utility of IFRS financial statements. Let’s forget about that today and focus on areas where the benefits of IFRS-compliant reporting seem to be a bit clearer. This is from an…
How helpful are financial statements in the new economy? A recent blog post took off from the following premise: With only 20% of companies’ market value found in the tangible assets in the financial statements, it is no wonder companies around the world are increasingly using the International <IR> Framework to support integrated thinking and help…
I tuned in a bit late to the EFRAG discussion paper Goodwill impairment test: can it be improved?, which was published last June As always with such a title, there’s very little likelihood that the answer would turn out to be, basically, no it can’t. The paper – which is timely as the IASB is…
Let’s look at another recent disclosure about the impact of IFRS 15. Here’s an extract from what SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. had to say: Let’s pick out a few of the items there: Variable consideration We’ve noted before that an entity doesn’t include any amount of variable consideration in the transaction price unless “it is highly…
As we addressed here, the IASB has published for public consultation proposed narrow-scope amendments to IAS 8 Accounting Policies, Changes in Accounting Estimates and Errors, open for comment until January 15, 2018. As the comment period has recently closed, we’ll continue to look at some of the responses. You’ll recall that IAS 8 in its current form…
These blog entries don’t usually lift such a big block of text from somewhere else, but in the circumstances it seems like the best way to go… This is from the December 31, 2017 annual financial statements of Bombardier Inc. It might be concluded from all this that if Bombardier didn’t exist, students of IFRS…
It’s easy sometimes for accountants to imagine (or at least, to pretend they imagine) that the parameters of periodic corporate reporting are largely defined by those of the financial statements, with the MD&A as a tacked-on outgrowth… Most accountants are presumably aware, at least vaguely, of the conversations about integrated reporting and ESG disclosures and…
John Hughes IFRS Blog 