Beyond the GAAP - January 2024

This month, sustainability reporting has again dominated the news, with the provisional agreement from the European Parliament to delay Commission adoption of the next sets of ESRS (namely sector-specific ESRS and ESRS for non-EU groups) by two years, i.e. by 30 June 2026 instead of 30 June 2024 as initially indicated in the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. Sector-specific standards in eight areas will nonetheless be published as soon as they are ready with respect to high-impact sectors. In January, EFRAG also issued its proposals regarding an ESRS for listed SMEs and a voluntary standard for non-listed SMEs.

With respect to financial reporting, the IASB continued its deliberations on draft amendments to IFRS 9 and IFRS 7, considering comment letters received. The IASB's discussions focused on the SPPI qualification and associated indicators, as well as on financial assets with non-recourse features and contractually linked instruments, for which stakeholders expressed reservations about the existence of alternative structures avoiding the application for requirements of the standard.