Some extremely minor IFRS items (redeemed by Twitter!)

The IASB has issued Transfers of Investment Property, an exposure draft of proposed amendments to IAS 40, and its exposure draft of proposed Annual Improvements to IFRSs 2014-2016 Cycle, open for comment until March 18, 2016 and February 17, 2016 respectively. IAS 40.57 currently lists some circumstances in which an entity makes transfers to or from investment property,…

Foreign currency translation – paying it forward

IFRIC has issued a draft interpretation, Foreign Currency Transactions and Advance Consideration, with comments to be received by January 19, 2016 Here’s the background: “Paragraphs 21–22 of IAS 21 The Effects of Changes in Foreign Exchange Rates require that a foreign currency transaction must be recorded, on initial recognition in the entity’s functional currency, by…

Uncertain tax positions – becoming more certain?

IFRIC has issued a draft interpretation, Uncertainty over Income Tax Treatments, with comments to be received by January 19, 2016 An uncertain tax treatment for purposes of the draft interpretation is one where uncertainty exists “over whether the taxation authority will accept a specific tax treatment under the tax law,” for example where the acceptability…

The Corporate Reporting Dialogue – a major rebalancing?

I somehow stumbled onto the website of the “Corporate Reporting Dialogue,” “an initiative designed to respond to market calls for greater coherence, consistency and comparability between corporate reporting frameworks, standards and related requirements.” It was spawned under the umbrella of the broad Integrated Reporting initiative, which seeks to work toward “a concise communication about how…

Equity accounting – time to say goodbye?

The endless oddity of one of the long-standing aspects of financial reporting On my old blog (now sadly wiped from cyberspace), I devoted several entries to the mechanics of equity accounting, not because I really wanted to, but because the topic generates so many head-scratching oddities (like the one I discussed last time). This is how I put…

Less than zero – oddities of the equity method

I’ll return another day to the basic question of why we’re stuck with equity accounting, a practice that doesn’t really make much conceptual sense. But for as long as we’re stuck with it, it generates plenty of head-scratching opportunities. Take for example the situation where an investor’s share of losses in the associate or joint…