Developments of interest this week are outlined. ROI IAASA has published a further compendium of financial reporting decisions.  Following the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020, the UK is now a third country under statutory audit legislation. UK registered auditors who wish to audit entities incorporated in the Republic of Ireland (ROI) will now need to register as third country auditors under the process set out in ROI law. To facilitate this, IAASA has agreed a Memorandum of Understanding on Reciprocal Arrangements (MOURA) with the FRC. UK The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) invites you to a webinar on 4 February to hear further details about its recent consultation to revise the quality management standards applicable to UK audit and accounting firms. Europe Hilde Blomme, Accountancy Europe and Professor Ann Jorissen discuss the topic of reflections on opportunities and challenges for the profession with respect to the disclosure and reporting of non-financial information. International The meeting summary from the Accounting Standards Advisory Forum meeting held on 10 December 2020 is now available. The IFRS Foundation is holding a live webinar on 27 January on the International Accounting Standards Board’s (Board) consultation on business combinations under common control.

Developments of interest this week are outlined. Chartered Accountants Ireland Technical Hub As previously advised, Chartered Accountants Ireland has launched a Technical Hub for members. This new resource replaces CHARIOT from 1 January 2021 and follows the “Hub-based” approach already in use elsewhere by the Institute. The Hub contains content on audit & assurance, financial reporting, insolvency, links to legislation, and a wide range of proprietary Institute content. The hub can be found on the Institute’s website here. A mapping document has been prepared which outlines where content previously found on CHARIOT can now be found on the Technical Hub. ROI IAASA has published summary information of its financial reporting enforcement activities undertaken during 2020. UK After the end of the tran­si­tion period on 31 December 2020, the UK ceased to apply EU law. IFRSs adopted by the EU at that point of time were in­cor­po­rated into Domestic UK law as IFRSs as adopted by the UK. The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and In­dus­trial Strategy (BEIS), who has been given the power of endorsing and adopting international accounting standards while the UK En­dorse­ment Board (UKEB) is still being es­tab­lished, has now adopted two amend­ments to IFRSs for use within the UK. The FRC has issued a podcast on Reflections from the Financial Reporting Lab Europe The endorsement by the European Commission of Amendments to IFRS 9, IAS 39, IFRS 7, IFRS 4 and IFRS 16 Interest Rate Benchmark Reform – Phase 2 is now reflected in the updated EFRAG Endorsement Status Report. Ac­coun­tancy Europe has responded to the con­sul­ta­tion document on the ad personam mandate on potential need for changes to the gov­er­nance and funding of EFRAG in the context of possible changes to non-fi­nan­cial reporting by companies. International The IFRS Foundation has published educational material to support companies in applying going concern requirements. The IFRS Foun­da­tion is offering three webinars aimed at iden­ti­fy­ing how academics can con­tribute to the post-im­ple­men­ta­tion reviews of IFRS 9 'Financial In­stru­ments', IFRS 15 'Revenue from Contracts with Customers', and IFRS 16 'Leases'.  

The IFRS Foundation has published educational material intended to support companies in applying the going concern requirements of IFRS standards in the preparation of financial statements. Noting that companies preparing financial statements using IFRS Standards are required to assess their ability to continue as a going concern, they say that in the current stressed economic environment arising from the covid-19 pandemic, deciding whether the financial statements should be prepared on a going concern basis may involve a greater degree of judgement than usual. ‘Going concern – a focus on disclosure’ looks at going concern and related requirements in IAS 1 ‘Presentation of Financial Statements’ and IAS 10 ‘Events after the Reporting Period’, and applying the requirements. The Foundation note that the material is published to support consistent application of IFRS Standards and brings together the requirements in IFRS Standards relevant for going concern assessments - it does not change, or add to, existing requirements. For more information, and to access the material, see the press release on the Foundation's website.  

Developments of interest this week are outlined. Chartered Accountants Ireland Technical Hub Chartered Accountants Ireland has launched a Technical Hub for members. This new resource replaces CHARIOT from 1 January 2021 and follows the “Hub-based” approach already in use elsewhere by the Institute. The Hub contains content on audit & assurance, financial reporting, insolvency, links to legislation, and a wide range of proprietary Institute content. The hub can be found on the Institute’s website here. UK The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has recently launched a consultation on the proposed revision of the standards for an audit firm’s responsibilities to design, implement and operate a system of quality management. The FRC has this week issued guidance for preparers using IFRS and their auditors. The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has submitted a comment letter on the IFRS Foun­da­tion Trustees’ con­sul­ta­tion paper on sus­tain­abil­ity reporting published in September 2020. The UK Endorsement Board (UKEB) is being set up as the body responsible for influencing the development and subsequently endorsing and adopting new or amended international accounting standards, issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), for use by UK companies, from 1 January 2021.  Europe EFRAG has published its Draft Comment Letter in response to the IASB's Exposure Draft ED/2020/4 Lease Liability in a Sale and Leaseback. Comments on the DCL are requested by 22 February 2021. International The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) has released its three quality management standards. The standards promote a robust, proactive, scalable and effective approach to quality management and mark a significant evolution of the existing quality control standards.

The UK Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Financial Reporting Council recently published a letter addressing certain implications of the end of the Transition Period for companies' accounting, reporting and filing requirements. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-accounting-and-audit-framework-from-1-january-2021 As the end of the Transition Period for the exit of the U.K. from the EU also has implications for the availability of certain Irish Company Law exemptions, such as Companies Act 2014 Section 357 (exemption from filing), Section 299 (exemption from consolidation) and Section 1300 (Branches of UK companies), Irish subsidiaries and branches of UK parents to which these sections apply may wish to liaise with their UK parent companies and to consider whether any action may be taken to address these implications.

Developments of interest this week are outlined. UK The UK Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Financial Reporting Council recently published a letter addressing certain implications of the end of the Transition Period for companies' accounting, reporting and filing requirements.  Europe The European Union has published a Com­mis­sion Reg­u­la­tion endorsing 'Extension of the Temporary Exemption from Applying IFRS 9 (Amend­ments to IFRS 4)'. The European Par­lia­ment and the Council have agreed to an amendment of the Trans­parency Directive allowing Member States to delay by one year the ap­pli­ca­tion of the European Single Elec­tronic Format (ESEF) re­quire­ments for listed companies' annual financial reports, provided that they notify the Com­mis­sion of their intention to do so, and of their suf­fi­ciently justified reasons. International The Global Reporting Ini­tia­tive (GRI) has commented on the IFRS Foun­da­tion Trustees’ con­sul­ta­tion paper on sus­tain­abil­ity reporting published in September 2020. The International Fed­er­a­tion of Ac­coun­tants (IFAC) has commented on the IFRS Foun­da­tion Trustees’ con­sul­ta­tion paper on sus­tain­abil­ity reporting published in September 2020. Deloitte has released a com­pre­hen­sive 380-page pub­li­ca­tion focusing on some of the most common and sig­nif­i­cant dif­fer­ences that may affect financial state­ments when con­vert­ing from U.S. GAAP to IFRS Standards and vice versa. Focusing on the effective and consistent application of our standards, the IAASB is addressing issues and challenges related to complexity, understandability, scalability and proportionality. This communique details development plans for a separate standard for audits of less complex entities.