The retailer WH Smith PLC includes the following accounting policy in its financial statements: Against that backdrop, here’s a recent news release from the company: As reported by BBC News: Accounting Web tried to flesh out the story a bit: It seems that the references to spreadsheets and manual journals and the like are based…

The Ontario Securities Commission recently published its draft Action Plan for Truth and Reconciliation (APTR) for engagement and comment. The news release put it as follows: The document virtually shimmers with commitment, referring to the hiring of Creative Fire, an Indigenous-owned consulting and communications firm, and to “extensive internal and external engagements (including) Indigenous political organizations in…

Just in case you thought the age of Trump couldn’t become any more irrationally regressive… The New York Times reported the following on July 29: The article contains a speculation that the proposed repeal will ultimately be struck down in court, but even if that’s so, it’s clear that a Trump-era E.P.A. will be worse…

As we discussed here, the IASB has issued a revised Practice Statement on management commentary.  The document (of course!) contains a section on materiality: The project feedback statement notes: “Investors have told the IASB that management commentaries sometimes lack focus on matters that are important to a company’s prospects, including in the long term.” To…

Here’s a tentative agenda decision (open for comment until October 6th) arising from an issue recently considered by IFRIC: All of that being the case, the Committee “concluded that the matter described in the request does not have widespread effect. Consequently, the Committee [decided] not to add a standard-setting project to the work plan.” The…

Canada’s IFRS Accounting Standards Discussion Group recently discussed some financial reporting considerations relating to tariffs. The discussion seems to have been almost as long and tortuous as the tariff saga itself, but somewhat more productive. Among much else, the group noted that the imposition of tariffs and related uncertainties at the reporting date may trigger…

The Canadian Securities Administrators recently took a trip down memory lane with CSA Staff Notice 51-366 Regulatory Concerns with Certain Asset or Business Acquisitions It relates to “problematic acquisitions” that “typically have the following attributes:” Key regulatory concerns with these types of transactions include: After that build-up, there’s not actually much to the notice beyond…

I came across a recent study by Simon Thies titled: How Does the IASB Rationalize IFRS Standard-Setting Decisions and Construct Legitimacy? An Analysis of the Bases for Conclusions The study cites a previous study on standard setters’ “rhetoric and construction of legitimacy:” It reaches the following conclusion: One might struggle to comprehend why any of…

The IASB has issued a revised Practice Statement on management commentary.  It “intends for the revised Practice Statement to serve as a global benchmark for regulators to use in updating or developing their national requirements and guidance,” as well as providing “a comprehensive resource for companies to help meet investors’ information needs.” The former goal…

I came across a relatively new blog, AccountancyIQ, written by Nasir Uddin, a teacher of accounting and auditing: The blog teases the following… …and might actually be capable of delivering on that. Uddin is a strikingly elegant writer (much more so than the quasi-hack you’re reading at the moment), often expressing himself with an almost…