Roundup 28 October 2022
Welcome to this week’s Technical Roundup.
In developments this week, the International Accounting Standards Board has announced that it has expanded the scope of its maintenance project on the work plan for proposed narrow-scope amendments to IFRS 9 Financial Instruments; the European Securities and Markets Authority has recently published an updated ESEF Reporting Manual applicable to the 2022 financial year.
Read more on these and other developments that may be of interest to members below.
Auditing
Updates to International Standards on Auditing (Ireland)
ISA (Ireland) 315 (Revised October 2020), Identifying and Assessing the Risks of Material Misstatement, is effective for audits of financial statements beginning on or after 15 December 2021. Several other standards have been updated to reflect the conforming amendments and can be found on IAASA’s website. The updates also include any corrections in the 2020 edition of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board’s Handbook.
The updated standards are available here.
The UK’s FRC standards are available here
Financial Reporting
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published its annual priorities statement titled European common enforcement priorities for 2022 annual financial reports.
IFRIC, the IFRS Interpretations Committee, has released its quarterly podcast which discusses its activities over the past 3 months.
The IASB has released its October 2022 update which highlights preliminary decisions of the IASB. The IASB has also released its October 2022 podcast.
The IASB has announced that it has expanded the scope of its maintenance project on the work plan for proposed narrow-scope amendments to IFRS 9 Financial Instruments. The proposed amendments cover contractual cash flow characteristics, electronic cash transfers and equity instruments & other comprehensive income.
The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) has issued its October 2022 update and podcast.
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has recently published an updated ESEF Reporting Manual applicable to the 2022 financial year. This manual includes the requirement to mark up the notes to and the accounting policies of the IFRS consolidated financial statements, following the “block tagging” approach.
Sustainability
The ISSB has announced that it has made significant progress in refining the first two of its proposed sustainability standards (IFRS S1 General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information and IFRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures.). At its recent meeting, the ISSB voted unanimously to require company disclosures on Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As part of these requirements, the ISSB will develop relief provisions to help companies apply the Scope 3 requirements.
The FCA in the UK is proposing new rules to tackle greenwashing. It is proposing a package of new measures including investment product sustainability labels and restrictions on how terms like ‘ESG’, ‘green’ or ‘sustainable’ can be used. The measures are among several potential new rules which will protect consumers and improve trust in sustainable investment products. You can read more on this here.
Anti-money laundering, sanctions
We continue to keep our sanctions webpages updated and readers can access the pages here. The Irish Dept. of Justice announced this week that it is removing the Russian Federation and Belarus from the Irish Short-Stay Visa Waiver Programme. The programme allows nationals of certain countries who have entered the United Kingdom on foot of certain UK short stay visas, to travel to Ireland without the requirement to obtain an Irish visa. The Minister for Justice said in a press release that the action is being taken in light of the continued Russian aggression against Ukraine. She also announced the non-recognition in Ireland of Russian passports issued in occupied foreign regions to counter the Russian practice of handing out ordinary Russian passports to residents of non-government-controlled areas in Ukraine and Georgia.
The US Dept of the Treasury recently issued an alert entitled Impact of Sanctions and Export Controls on Russia’s Military-Industrial Complex which might be of interest and which can be accessed here. It gives a summary of actions taken in response to Russia’s unjust war and contains a piece on sanctions evasion and gives some links to further information.
In March this year the European Banking Federation and SAS gave a joint virtual series of masterclasses including one on de mystifying Artificial Intelligence for Anti Money laundering. They have just released the webinar recently and you can access it here.
The FATF Plenary was held this month in Paris. Details of its outcomes are available on FATF webpages, please click here where you can read some details of compliance with FATF standards and strategic initiatives including Improving Access to Beneficial Ownership Information.
Insolvency
The CCAB-I Insolvency Committee has recently updated the Technical Release 02/2019 General Data Protection Regulation – Guidance for Insolvency Practitioners. The main updates are to reflect the impact of Brexit and other updates since it was originally issued in early 2019.
The Institute is hosting a webinar on SCARP – what we know so far on Tuesday, 15 November 2022 at 10am. Des Gibney of McStay Luby and Hilary Larkin of Mazars along with Laura-Michelle Moore from Chartered Accountants Ireland will discuss the SCARP process, how to prepare for it, what to look out for and key matters to be aware of when considering it. We will explore some practical issues including how SCARP is working in practice, dealing with creditors and what your balance sheet may look like before entering the process versus afterwards. This is a free event and open to all to attend.
The Institute’s Insolvency Technical Committee has responded to the call for evidence by The Insolvency Service on the review of the personal insolvency framework for England and Wales.
The Department of Enterprise, Trade & Employment has recently published an Information Note on the European Union (Preventive Restructuring) Regulations 2022.
Other
The Charities Regulator has issued its latest newsletter. It includes news of the Charities Regulator’s submission on the General Scheme of the Charities (Amendment) Bill 2022 and there is guidance in this issue for submitting your charity’s annual report to the Charities Regulator, along with details of the resources on the website to help.
For further technical information and updates please visit the Technical Hub on the Institute website.