Technical roundup 26 February

Developments of interest this week are outlined.

Chartered Accountants Ireland

• The IASB recently consulted on a proposal to extend by one year the application period of the amendment to IFRS 16 Leases issued in 2020. The Institute’s Accounting Committee has responded to the Exposure Draft and the response is available to read here.

ROI

• The Central Bank of Ireland has issued a Consultation Paper on enhancing engagement with stakeholders.  In the consultation the bank acknowledges the importance of stakeholder engagement in its ability to identify opportunities to enhance the performance of the financial system and identify any risks that may be developing. The closing date for responses is Tuesday 11 May 2021.
  

UK 

• The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) published principles for operational separation of the audit practices of the ‘Big 4’ firms in July 2020.  The FRC asked the firms to submit their implementation plans by 23 October 2020.  The FRC has reviewed these plans and discussed them with the firms individually and is now content for the firms to move to the next stage of implementation.

Europe

• Recent fraud cases, corporate failures and the pandemic’s impact have led Accountancy Europe to issue two publications with recommendations to strengthen the financial reporting ecosystem, respectively on: Going concern, and Fraud.
• The EFRAG has released a first podcast on the post-im­ple­men­ta­tion review of IFRS 10 ‘Con­sol­i­dated Financial State­ments’, IFRS 11 ‘Joint Arrange­ments’ and IFRS 12 ‘Dis­clo­sure of Interests in Other Entities’, which provides an in­tro­duc­tion into the post-im­ple­men­ta­tion review process.
• The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s securities markets regulator, has published the final report on Guidelines aimed at assisting competent authorities in the application of EMIR provisions that deal with the review and evaluation of central counterparties (CCPs).

International

• The IASB has released a podcast featuring IASB Chair Hans Hooger­vorst and Vice-Chair Sue Lloyd to discuss de­lib­er­a­tions at the 4 February 2021 sup­ple­men­tary meeting and the 16–17 February 2021 IASB meeting.
• The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) is requesting public comments on its Exposure Draft addressing changes in some of its standards and framework resulting from the new and revised quality management standards. Comments are requested by May 24, 2021.