July 2021

Andreas Barckow is no stranger to the IFRS Foundation, and on 1 July 2021 he began his first term as Chair of the Board. Here he talks about his career, his experience at the Foundation so far and his priorities for the next few years.

Earlier in July, the Trustees hosted two webinars covering similar updates on their work on sustainability—watch the recordings here. You can also read a summary of the Trustees’ meeting held virtually on 26 July 2021 during which they discussed arrangements for seed capital for the new board. The Foundation also responded to a communiqué from the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors that welcomed the Trustees’ work programme to develop a baseline global reporting standard under robust governance and public oversight. Finally, you can see the recording of Trustee Chair Erkki Liikanen taking part in a panel debate on regulations, disclosures, financial risk and private financing for the green economy at the recent International Conference on Climate Change.

The proposed narrow-scope amendment to the transition requirements in IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts does not affect any other requirements in IFRS 17.

The Board has also proposed a new IFRS Standard that would permit eligible subsidiaries to apply IFRS Standards with a reduced set of disclosure requirements. The proposals are designed to ease financial reporting for eligible subsidiaries while meeting the needs of the users of their financial statements.

The Board decided at its 21 July 2021 meeting to extend the comment period for Exposure Draft Disclosure Requirements in IFRS Standards—A Pilot Approach to next January because of the unique nature of, and significant new thinking in, the proposals. In particular, the comment period will allow more time for preparers to conduct fieldwork and provide feedback on the practical application of the proposals.

A number of webinars were held in June and July to update stakeholders on some of the projects on the Board’s current work plan. Recordings are now available for:

• Business Combinations under Common Control—feedback from initial outreach with Board Member Bruce Mackenzie;
• Third Agenda Consultation—overview of the consultation across two webinars with question and answer sessions; and
• Management Commentary—overview of the Board’s proposals for a new comprehensive framework for preparing management commentary with questions from the audience.

In the July episode of the IASB podcast, we introduce new Chair Andreas Barckow as he and Vice-Chair Sue Lloyd discuss Goodwill and Impairment, Primary Financial Statements and the post-implementation review of IFRS 9 Financial Instruments, among other topics. You can also read the full IASB Update for July 2021, which includes an update on the joint IASB-FASB education session.