Technical roundup 13 November

Developments of interest this week are outlined.

ROI

• IAASA has this week published an Information Note setting out how companies have accounted for leases under IFRS 16 – Leases, the new leases accounting standard.

UK

• Auditors must redouble their efforts to remedy inconsistent audit quality, which has become even more important in the face of the unprecedented economic turbulence brought by Covid-19, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has urged in Developments in Audit 2020 this week.
• Climate change is one of the defining issues of our time and, by its nature, material to companies’ long-term success. Boards have a responsibility to consider their impact on the environment and the likely consequences of any business decisions in the long-term. The FRC 2020 review of climate-related considerations in corporate reporting and auditing found that boards and companies, auditors, professional associations, regulators and standard-setters need to do more.
• The FRC supports global standards for non-financial reporting as the long-term vision, and welcomes, alongside UK financial regulators and government departments, the recent consultation issued by the IFRS Foundation Trustees.

• The FRC has this week published its annual end of year letter to CEOs, CFOs and Audit Committee Chairs setting out its reporting expectations for preparers of reports and accounts for the year ahead.

International

• On 30 October 2020, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and European Accounting As­so­ci­a­tion (EAA) held a virtual research seminar for academics related to the IASB’s Dis­cus­sion Paper 'Business Com­bi­na­tions — Dis­clo­sures, Goodwill and Im­pair­ment' and relevant academic lit­er­a­ture. A recording of the event is now available.
• At the thirty-sev­enth session of the United Nations Con­fer­ence on Trade and De­vel­op­ment (UNCTAD) In­ter­gov­ern­men­tal Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting (ISAR) this week, Erkki Liikanen, Chairman of the IFRS Foun­da­tion Trustees, in­tro­duced the Trustees' con­sul­ta­tion paper that was published in September to assess demand for global sus­tain­abil­ity standards and what role the Foun­da­tion might play in the de­vel­op­ment of such standards.