IASB work plan: key milestones

Keywords: Mazars, Thailand, IFRS, IASB, PiRs, IFRIC, IAS

15 March 2022

There are no significant changes from the previous work plan; however, as we move into the new year, we are taking this opportunity to highlight some key milestones in the IASB’s major projects.

Further and bigger changes are likely once the IASB has finished analysing the comments submitted by stakeholders to its third consultation on its work plan, which covers the 2022-2026 period.

Post-implementation reviews (PiRs) of recently-published IFRSs

• PiR of IFRS 10, IFRS 11 and IFRS 12 (“consolidation package”): a Request for Information was published in December 2020 to gather comments from stakeholders and the Feedback Statement will be published in the second quarter of 2022. In the meantime, the IASB must consider its strategy for topics identified in the course of the PiR (such as the accounting treatment of collaborative arrangements, which fall outside the scope of IFRS 11) and decide on a plan of action, where appropriate. Having said that, the IASB stated in October 2021 that IFRS 10, IFRS 11 and IFRS 12 were generally functioning as intended.
• PiR of IFRS 9 – Classification and Measurement : a Request for Information was published last September and the comment period closed on 28 January. A summary of the comments submitted to the IASB will be presented at the March 2022 meeting.

Ongoing projects at the Exposure Draft stage

• General Presentation and Disclosures: the IASB is continuing with the redeliberations that began in January 2020 (see the following item in this issue), after receiving a very large number of comments in response to the Exposure Draft published in December 2019. Readers will remember that the exposure draft sets out new rules on the structure and content of the income statement, which are more detailed and prescriptive than those currently specified in IAS 1. The IASB is also keen to improve the transparency of disclosures in the notes, particularly those relating to some alternative performance measures, namely “management performance measures”. No date is currently given for the finalisation of the new standard in the IASB’s work plan, which is understandable given the number of topics yet to be redeliberated (including the approach to be used by entities with specific activities, such as banks and insurers).
• Pilot approach to disclosure requirements and proposed amendments to IFRS 13 and IAS 19: an Exposure Draft was published in March 2021 and the comment period ended on 12 January 2022. A summary of the comments received will be published in the second quarter of 2022. The IASB is hoping that this project will fundamentally change entities’ approach to disclosures, reducing the volume of irrelevant information that is included unthinkingly using a box-ticking approach, and that often swamps the (sometimes limited) relevant information. The proposed guidance was tested out on two standards: IFRS 13 Fair Value Measurement and IAS 19 Employee Benefits.
• Rate-regulated Activities: on 28 January 2021, the IASB published an exposure draft with the objective of ensuring that entities’ financial statements reflect the total compensation they are owed for goods or services provided to their customers over the period (or “total allowed compensation”) consistently with the agreement implementing rate regulation. Redeliberations on the project began last December, following a large number of comments received from stakeholders. The biggest issue is the concept of “total allowed compensation” and how it should be calculated. The topics to be discussed over the coming months include the following:
  • the scope of the proposed standard and its interaction with IFRIC 12 Service Concession Arrangements;
  • determining the discount rate; and
  • the current impossibility of recognising the return on assets not yet available for use while said assets are still in the construction phase.

         The IASB has not yet set a timeframe for the publication of a possible final standard.

• Non-current Liabilities with Covenants: the proposed limited-scope amendment to IAS 1 is open for comment until 21 March 2022. The IASB is expected to publish feedback on the comments received in the second quarter of 2022.
• Supplier Finance Arrangements: the comment period for the proposed limited-scope amendments to IAS 7 and IFRS 7 is open until 28 March 2022. The IASB is expected to publish feedback on the comments received in the second quarter of 2022.

Ongoing projects at the Discussion Paper stage

• Business Combinations – Disclosures, Goodwill and Impairment (Discussion Paper published in March 2020): the IASB will decide on the project direction in the third quarter of 2022. In the meantime, the IASB is planning to continue discussions with the staff on disclosures required in the notes following business combinations, and whether it is possible to reliably estimate the useful life of goodwill, with a view to considering whether amortisation should be introduced. Currently, it is extremely difficult to predict the final outcome of the project.
• Business Combinations under Common Control (Discussion Paper published in November 2020): the IASB has stated that the next step is to decide on the project direction, but has not set a date. It is therefore currently difficult to say what will become of the proposals in the Discussion Paper.

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