National Standard-setters newsletter—August 2023

Dear national standard-setters,

Welcome to our newsletter dedicated to keeping you up to date on the activities of the IFRS Foundation.

In this edition

• Upcoming 2023 World Standard-setters Conference in London
• IASB completed technical work on two new IFRS Accounting Standards
• IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards endorsed by international securities regulators
• Round up of recent news for national standard-setters
• Open for comment

2023 World Standard-setters Conference in London

The World Standard-setters Conference 2023 will take place in London on 25–26 September at Hilton London Canary Wharf, South Quay, Marsh Wall, London, E14 9SH. If you are unable to attend in person, you will be able to watch the plenary sessions on the conference page.

The conference will provide national standard-setters with the opportunity to get an update on and discuss the IFRS Foundation’s activities. It will also offer interactive Q&A sessions—where you can ask presenters questions—panel discussions and networking opportunities with fellow delegates, IFRS Foundation staff and members of the IFRS Foundation’s two standard-setting boards—the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB).

The agenda is available here.

The World Standard-setters Conference is open to all national standard-setters. The IFRS Foundation has invited two representatives from each national standard-setter to attend the conference in person. The invitations have been sent to all national standard-setters. The deadline for registering to attend in person is 25 August.

IASB completed technical work on two new IFRS Accounting Standards

In July 2023 the IASB has concluded its decision-making on two projects: Primary Financial Statements and Subsidiaries without Public Accountability: Disclosures.

The IASB expects to issue the new Accounting Standards in the first half of 2024.

The IASB has decided that the effective date of both new Accounting Standards will be for annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027 to give companies sufficient time to implement the new requirements. Earlier application will be permitted.

IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards endorsed by international securities regulators

In July 2023 the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) announced that it has decided to endorse the sustainability-related financial disclosures standards, recently issued by the ISSB, IFRS S1 General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information and IFRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures.

IOSCO is now calling on its 130 member jurisdictions—capital markets authorities that regulate more than 95% of the world’s securities markets—to consider how they can incorporate the ISSB Standards into their respective regulatory frameworks to deliver consistency and comparability of sustainability-related disclosures worldwide.

The announcement comes at a time when a number of jurisdictions are taking steps to introduce mandatory requirements for use of the ISSB’s first two Standards, IFRS S1 and IFRS S2.

To coincide with the endorsement of IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 by IOSCO, the IFRS Foundation has published a high-level roadmap providing transparency around the IFRS Foundation and the ISSB’s strategy to support jurisdictional adoption. This document is a precursor to an Adoption Guide for regulators, which will be finalised later in 2023.

Round up of recent news for the national standard-setters

Here is a roundup of news related to the communication you would have received from the IFRS Foundation’s NSS Team in the last couple of months:

IFRS Foundation updates

• The IFRS Foundation’s annual conference was held on 26–27 June 2023 and offered a unique opportunity to hear about key developments at the IFRS Foundation, highlighting the work of the IASB and the ISSB. Watch the keynote speeches from Andreas Barckow, Chair of the IASB, and Emmanuel Faber, Chair of the ISSB;
  
• Linda Mezon-Hutter, Vice-Chair of the IASB, and Sue Lloyd, Vice-Chair of the ISSB, discussed progress made in facilitating connections between financial statements and sustainability-related financial disclosures and in the work of the two boards. If you would like to watch the discussion, the recording is now available;
• The Trustees are seeking to fill in seven vacancies for the IFRS Foundation Advisory Council from 1 January 2024. The Advisory Council provides strategic advice to the Trustees, the IASB and the ISSB. Accordingly, in addition to the backgrounds and experiences sought in previous years, the Trustees are particularly seeking interest from organisations involved in sustainability-related disclosures and wider corporate reporting.
  The Trustees aspire to have a pool of applicants that have a balanced gender mix and have the relevant skill set, background and experience as indicated in the criteria for membership. 

Accounting updates

• Accounting Standards Advisory Forum (ASAF) took place on 10-11 July 2023 in London. ASAF members discussed several standard-setting issues, primarily on the IASB's work plan. If you would like to watch the discussion, the recording is now available.
• In July 2023 the IFRS Foundation published an updated version of its educational material developed to help companies determine how to consider climate-related matters when preparing their financial statements applying IFRS Accounting Standards. 
• In July 2023 the IASB staff published an updated brochure Maintenance and consistent application of IFRS Accounting Standards. The publication describes how the IASB together with its interpretative body, the IFRS Interpretations Committee, maintain the Accounting Standards and support their consistent application. Spanish and Chinese translations of the brochure are in progress, expected in Q4 2023.
  You can find out more on how we help support consistent application of IFRS Accounting Standards and IFRIC Interpretations here.

Sustainability updates

• ISSB issued its inaugural standards in June 2023. Learn more about IFRS S1 General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information and IFRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures in our webinars with ISSB Vice-Chair Sue Lloyd.
• The IFRS Foundation has launched the IFRS Sustainability Standards Navigator that is separate from the IFRS Accounting Standards Navigator. We are currently making all IFRS Sustainability Standards Navigator content available to registered web users for free. Register here to receive free access to the HMTL and PDF files of the 2023 Issued IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards (also known as ISSB Standards) and accompanying guidance.

Open for comment

Accounting consultations

• The IASB has published a Request for Information as part of the post-implementation review of IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers. A post-implementation review is an opportunity for the IASB to assess whether the effects of applying the new requirements on different stakeholders are as intended when the IASB developed those new requirements. The comment letter period is open until 27 October 2023.
• The IASB has also published a Request for Information as part of the post-implementation review of the impairment requirements of IFRS 9 Financial Instruments. The comment letter period is open until 27 September 2023.
• The IFRS Interpretations Committee published the tentative agenda decision Merger between a Parent and Its Subsidiary in Separate Financial Statements (IAS 27) at its meeting in June 2023. The deadline for commenting on the tentative agenda decision is 14 August 2023. The Committee will consider all comments received in writing by that date; agenda papers analysing comments received will include analysis only of comments received by that date.

Sustainability consultations

• The ISSB is seeking feedback on its priorities for the next two-year work plan and has published the Request for Information Consultation on Agenda Priorities. The Request for Information is open for comment until 1 September 2023.
• The ISSB published for public comment Proposed IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Taxonomy, that reflects disclosure requirements arising from IFRS S1 and IFRS S2, issued in June 2023. Proposed IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Taxonomy is open for comment until 26 September 2023.