Beyond the GAAP - the monthly newsletter on financial and sustainability reporting
Each month, the newsletter Beyond the GAAP aims at keeping readers informed of financial and sustainability reporting developments.
Beyond the GAAP no. 127 - November 2018
Ahead of the preparation of financial statements at 31 December 2018, Beyond the GAAP summarises the standards applicable to the current year and revisits the information published by European entities on the introduction of IFRS 16 at 30 June 2018 - information which must be significantly expanded in December 2018.
Beyond the GAAP no.128 – December 2018
Following on from last issue’s feature, which provided a general overview of standards applicable at 31 December 2018, Beyond the GAAP details, in special studies, two issues that may impact your financial statements either immediately with the first study on how to account for hyperinflation in Argentina, or more prospectively with the IASB’s latest proposals on the costs to be taken into account to determine whether a contract is onerous.
Beyond the GAAP no.129 – January 2019
With annual report season in full swing, this issue of Beyond the GAAP is a slightly quicker read than last month’s issue. However, it does contain some particularly significant news, notably a number of interesting agenda decisions published by the IFRS Interpretations Committee.
Beyond the GAAP No.130 - February 2019
News from the IASB continues to be dominated by work to amend IFRS 17, to which we return in this edition’s special study. This project even seems to overshadow progress on other issues, such as the presentation of financial statements, or the finalisation (with no changes to the standards) of work on segment reporting and interest rates. The fact remains that the latest news from the March IASB meeting suggests that there is no appetite, on the IASB’s part, for change on the thorniest aspect of IFRS 17, the level of contract aggregation.
Beyond the GAAP No.132 - April 2019
This year, it wasn’t accounting that made the news in April... A chance for our readers to enjoy the holidays and the month of May.
Beyond the GAAP no.118 - January 2018
Since 1 January 2018, IFRS 9 - Financial instruments and IFRS 15 - Revenue from Contracts with Customers have been effective, as the the IASB headline announced on its website on 8 January. In parallel, work to assess the impact of IFRS 9 on long-term investment is continuing at the European level, with the publication of the outcomes of a first factual analysis by EFRAG. This research has also acted as a spur to the IASB, which has followed up the EFRAG publication by issuing two presentations of its own on the contributions of IFRS standards to financial stability and long-term investment.
Beyond the GAAP no.117 - December 2017
2017 ended fairly quietly, since the European Commission had already endorsed several texts in November and the IASB’s December meeting decided to postpone publication of most of its texts and draft texts, with the exception of the annual improvements to IFRSs, which we discuss in this month’s ‘A closer look’ study. This being the case, the implementation of IFRS 9 and IFRS 15 in January 2018 will be more than enough to keep entities and their auditors busy, on top of the preparation of the 2017 financial statements.
Beyond the GAAP no.116 - November 2017
Over the past decade, the IASB has been working on the process of converging IFRS with US GAAP, and this month saw EU endorsement of the remaining resulting standards. With implementation now set to go ahead, this marks the end of a chapter. The one remaining major standard awaiting endorsement – namely IFRS 17 - Insurance Contracts – was not a joint project with the FASB, and moreover is not scheduled for endorsement until the end of next year.
Beyond the GAAP no.115 - October 2017
The IASB has put some last-minute finishing touches to IFRS 9, with an amendment on debt instruments with symmetric prepayment options and with the inclusion (in the Basis for Conclusions) of its analysis of the standard’s provisions on the modification of financial liabilities. All that remains is for the European Union to accelerate the endorsement of the amendment so that European entities do not have to switch accounting policies between 2018 and 2019!