Extractive Activities—Discussion Paper 2010

In response to feedback on the Discussion Paper Extractive Activities, published in 2010, and from the 2011 Agenda Consultation, the Board assigned a low priority to the research and suspended work on it.

In response to subsequent feedback from the 2015 Agenda Consultation, the Board closed this research project and added a new project on extractive activities to its research pipeline. That new research project is not a continuation of this closed project, but the Board will make use of evidence gathered during this project. The new research project started in 2018.

About the project

Extractive activities consist of exploring for, evaluating, developing and producing natural resources such as minerals, oil and gas. Such activities are important globally and are particularly significant in some countries. Companies use various accounting models to report the resources and expenditures associated with these activities. The resulting diversity in financial information hinders investors from understanding the financial position and financial performance of those companies.

In 2004, the Board issued IFRS 6 Exploration for and Evaluation of Mineral Resources as an interim step. The Standard has allowed companies adopting IFRS Standards to continue to apply some aspects of their existing accounting policies for exploration and evaluation expenditures until the Board reviews the accounting practices of companies engaged in extractive activities.

In 2010, the Board published a Discussion Paper containing the research findings of a team of national standard-setters from Australia, Canada, Norway and South Africa. The research focused on:

• how to estimate and classify quantities of minerals or oil and gas (the reserves and resources) discovered;
• how to account for the reserves and resources, as well as for the associated expenditure; and
• what information to disclose about extractive activities.