Principles of disclosure – stop me before I over-explain!

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…

IFRS – a clear gift to the world!

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…

Hey, financial statements – this thing between us just isn’t working out!

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…

IFRS 15 in action – part 2!

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…

IFRS 15 in action – some material impacts to come

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…

Discontinued mineral properties – just stop digging

Here’s another issue considered a while ago by CPA Canada’s IFRS Discussion Group: “A reporting entity’s (the “Parent Entity”) operations consist of the exploration for and evaluation of mineral property interests. The Parent Entity’s mineral property portfolio consists of interests located in two countries – Country A and Country B. The mineral properties are held…

Proposed amendments to IAS 8 — it’s a policy, no it’s an estimate, oh hell I don’t know…

As we addressed here, the IASB 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 take a look at some of the responses. First, to recap, IAS 8 in its current form defines…