Welcome to this week’s Technical Roundup.
In developments this week, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has published a myth buster to dispel common misconceptions about Corporate Governance and Stewardship; the National Crime Agency (NCA) in the UK has published its first SARs (Suspicious Activity Reports) Booklet of 2023 which showcases further positive feedback from law enforcement agencies and includes a number of case studies highlighting excellent outcomes derived from SARs.
Read more on these and other developments that may be of interest to members below.
FRS 102 Periodic Review- Meet the FRC
Please join us in Chartered Accountants House on 29 March for some free, in-person events to mark the Periodic Review of FRS 102, FRS 105 and other UK and Irish accounting standards.
In December 2022, the FRC Published FRED 82, which contains the proposed amendments to UK and Irish accounting standards. These include some significant changes in the areas of Revenue and Leasing.
These events will help attendees understand the proposed changes, with presentations from the FRC and include a summary presentation and roundtable sessions.
Financial Reporting
The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group’s (EFRAG) draft comment letter in response to the IASB’s Exposure Draft 2023/1 International Tax Reform—Pillar Two Model Rules (Proposed Amendments to IAS 12) remains open for comment until 27 February 2023.
Sustainability
The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) has issued its February 2023 update and podcast.
The meeting, amongst other matters, focused on redeliberating the Exposure Drafts IFRS S1 General Sustainability-related Disclosures (draft S1) and IFRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures (draft S2) and to decide whether to begin the balloting process for IFRS S1 and IFRS S2. The ISSB discussed the sources of guidance an entity would use to identify sustainability-related risks and opportunities, and related disclosures and tentatively decided that the effective date of IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 would be effective for annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2024, and that early adoption would be possible. The ISSB will now commence the balloting process and expects to issue the Standards towards the end of the second quarter of 2023.
Anti-Money laundering/Sanctions
The Temporary Protection Directive (Council Directive 2001/55/EC) was activated for the first time by the E.U Council on 4 March 2022. Under it, the Irish Dept. of Justice began granting temporary protection to persons fleeing the war in Ukraine on 9 March 2022. To date some 75,000 people have been given temporary protection in Ireland and the Dept. recently announced that it was extending the temporary protection for another 12 months to March 2024. You can read more about this extension of temporary protection on the Dept of Justice’s website.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) in the UK has published its first SARs Reporter Booklet of 2023. The NCA writes that the booklet showcases further positive feedback from law enforcement Agencies and includes a number of case studies highlighting excellent outcomes derived from SARs. You can access the SARs Reporter Booklet here.
A revised and updated 'Guidance on Submitting Better Quality SARs' from the UKFIU has been published and is available on the National Crime Agency (NCA) website. It aims to provide all reporters with guidance on how to submit better quality SARs to the NCA and the booklet should be read in conjunction with guidance found on the NCA website https://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/.
Governance and stewardship
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has published a mythbuster to dispel common misconceptions about Corporate Governance and Stewardship.
The document addresses several frequently asked questions, such as:
- What is corporate governance?
- What do we mean by stewardship?
- Does the Corporate Governance code give the FRC powers to enforce against Directors?
Protected Disclosures amendment legislation
Readers may recall that the Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Act 2022 was signed into law in July 2022 and commenced on 1 January 2023.The Dept of Public Expenditure (DPER ) has a useful webpage with information on the legislation. The DPER protected disclosures webpage has recently been updated by the addition of a further booklet (to the two already there) on “Protected Disclosures Act Key messages for workers”.
Other Areas of Interest
Readers may be interested in the “Dear CEO letter “issued recently by the Irish Central Bank (CBI). It sets out some detail of CBI’s regulatory and supervisory priorities for 2023 including authorisation processes, Individual Accountability Framework and supervising firms’ compliance with Anti Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism obligations and administering and enforcing financial sanctions.
For further technical information and updates please visit the Technical Hub on the Institute website.