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This summary of Accounting Standards Board (AcSB) decisions has been prepared for information purposes only. Decisions reported are tentative and reflect only the current status of discussion on projects, which may change after further deliberations by the AcSB. Decisions to publish Handbook material are final only after a formal ballot process.
For more detailed information on AcSB projects, including the decisions summarized below, please refer to the project summaries under Projects, which will be updated within the month following an AcSB meeting. |
Credit Environment — Accounting Implications Reclassification of Financial Assets
The AcSB considered comments received on its “fatal flaw” draft of proposed amendments to Sections 3855, Financial Instruments — Recognition and Measurement, and 3862, Financial Instruments — Disclosures, regarding reclassification of financial assets, and approved the amendments. A Typescript of the final text was posted to the AcSB web site on Friday October 24, 2008. Improving Disclosure Requirements for Financial Instruments
The AcSB agreed to issue an exposure draft to amend Section 3862, Financial Instruments — Disclosures, by adopting improvements being proposed by the IASB to corresponding requirements in IFRS 7, Financial Instruments: Disclosures. These proposals are to enhance disclosures about fair value measurements and the liquidity risk of financial instruments. The exposure draft will propose that the amendments be effective for interim and annual financial statements relating to fiscal years beginning on or after July 1, 2009, the same effective date as in IFRSs. The AcSB’s exposure draft will be issued in November 2008. The AcSB recommended that the proposed improvements be considered by the Private Enterprises Advisory Committee when developing the disclosure requirements in the separate GAAP standards for private enterprises. The AcSB also agreed on plans for responding to the IASB on the improvements to IFRS 7, including consultation with some of the AcSB’s advisory committees. Publicly Accountable Enterprises Strategy The AcSB continued to consider comments received on its Exposure Draft, “Adopting IFRSs in Canada” (omnibus ED), issued in April 2008. The AcSB noted that respondents presented no compelling arguments for why one or more of the IFRSs exposed in the omnibus ED should not be applied in Canada. It further noted that a large majority of respondents were not concerned about the possibility of some entities in Canada choosing to adopt IFRSs in advance of the mandatory changeover date. Therefore, the AcSB decided to continue with its plans to incorporate the IFRSs exposed in the omnibus ED into the Handbook in mid-2009. - Based on the comments received, the AcSB also decided:
- that there is no need for it to issue guidance over and above that found in the IFRSs exposed in the omnibus ED in order to make those standards operational in Canada; and
- to continue with its plans to amend Section 1506, Accounting Changes, to clarify that the disclosures required by paragraph 1506.30 apply only to a change in individual accounting standards, not to the complete replacement of an entity’s primary basis of accounting, as will occur at the IFRS changeover date.
Business Combinations and Non-Controlling Interests The AcSB agreed to proceed to replace Section 1581, Business Combinations, with Section 1582, Business Combinations; and Section 1600, Consolidated Financial Statements, with Sections 1601, Consolidated Financial Statements, and 1602, Non-controlling Interests. The AcSB plans to incorporate the new and amended standards into Canadian GAAP prior to the adoption of IFRSs in Canada. Adoption of the new and amended standards will be permitted, but not required, prior to fiscal years beginning on or after January 1, 2011. However, before issuing the new standards, the AcSB will seek the advice of the Accounting Standards Oversight Council on the merits of delaying any change from the current standards until the changeover to IFRSs. |
