Monthly roundup - March 2012

Author: Deepesh Malik and Debbie Hankey, Accounting Technical Group

March 2012 edition
Issued 04 April 2012

In this edition:

• Monthly highlights
• New pronouncements
• Standard setter meetings
• New Deloitte publications
• Other developments

Monthly highlights

Resource rent tax bills passed by Senate

The Minerals Resource Rent Tax (MRRT) Bill 2011 and Petroleum Resource Rent Tax Assessment Amendment Bill 2011 (the ‘resource rent tax Bills’) were passed by the Senate on 19th March 2012. As the legislation is now substantively enacted, entities will need to consider the impacts on their deferred tax accounting following the AASB’s agenda decision at its February 2012 meeting that MRRT will be considered as an income tax for financial reporting purposes.

Note that as mentioned in our February edition of Monthly Roundup, the IFRS Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) has now reached a similar conclusion to the AASB that the starting base allowance market value uplift should be considered as an adjustment to the tax base.

New pronouncements

(A listing of new accounting standards, interpretations, exposure drafts, discussion papers and similar documents issued during the month by the AASB and IASB/IFRIC, along with other IFRS-related documents by other bodies that may be of interest and related links to Deloitte publications and alerts. See also our What’s new in the December 2011 financial reporting cycle summary.)

International Accounting Standards Board (IASB)

* Equivalent pronouncement not yet issued by the AASB

Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB)

Standard setter meetings

(A listing of meetings of various standard setters during the month or where documents were issued during the month in respect of the previous month’s meetings, with links to our analysis, agenda papers and so on)

New Deloitte publications

(Key IFRS-related and other publications issued by Deloitte during the month, not covered elsewhere. You can find full details and back issues of our various publications by following these links: Accounting alerts, IAS Plus publications, IFRS in Focus Newsletters, Webcasts, and Podcasts)

IFRS publications

• IFRS on Point — IFRS Accounting Developments and Information: February 2012 (PDF 74kb) highlights the month’s important IFRS developments and information
• IASB Project Insights provide a quick overview of the current status of the key projects of the IASB. New updates posted in March 2012 include: Insurance contracts (PDF 181kb), Financial Instruments - Classification and Measurement (PDF 220kb), Financial Instruments - Impairment (PDF 237kb) and Leases (PDF 631kb)
• Deloitte has issued its Second Global IFRS Banking Survey – Q1 2012 A changing landscape (PDF 2,730kb) that highlights the views of 56 major banking groups on the implementation challenges of IFRS 9 Financial Instruments including both the impairment proposals and classification and measurement, as well as the challenges of implementation of the new standards, IFRS 10 Consolidated financial statements, IFRS 12 Disclosure of interests in other entities and IFRS 13 Fair value measurement (IAS Plus article).

Comment letters

• Deloitte comment letter (PDF 164kb) to the IASB on its Exposure Draft ED/2011/6 Revenue from Contracts with Customers. In addition to the comment letter, Deloitte has also issued a Point of View on the revenue proposals
• Deloitte comment letter (PDF 191kb) to the IASB on its Exposure Draft ED/2011/7 Transition Guidance – Proposed amendments to IFRS 10
• Deloitte comment letter (PDF 73kb) to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) in response to its Consultation Paper Considerations of materiality in financial reporting.

Deloitte Webcasts and Podcasts

• Stay Tuned Online: IFRS and UK GAAP update – webcast (March 2011) discusses the latest IFRS developments, in addition to other UK specific reporting requirements
• Global Insurance Webcast 26 — Accounting for short term contracts makes substantial progress (WMV 13,302kb) reports on the insurance project joint meetings between the IASB and the FASB during February 2012, providing a summary of progress and key developments.

Other developments

(A brief listing of other financial reporting developments during the month. A full summary of all IFRS-related developments can be found in our March historical summary on IAS Plus. You can also subscribe to our Deloitte IAS Plus RSS feed to be kept informed of developments as they happen)

Australian-specific topics

• The Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) has issued Invitation to Comment (ITC) on transition to AASB 9 Financial Instruments (Media release)
• The AASB has submitted comments (PDF 50kb) to the IASB on ED/2011/6 Revenue from Contracts with Customers
• The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) has released a revised version of ASX Listing Rules Guidance Note 9 Disclosure of Corporate Governance Practices that replaces the previous Guidance Notes 9 and 9A. The revised Guidance Note has greater guidance on ASX’s expectations regarding the corporate governance disclosures to be made by listed entities under Listing Rule 4.10.3 and its monitoring and enforcement processes under that rule (ASX company update 02/12)
• The Treasury issued Draft legislation (PDF 215kb) to cut the company tax rate for all companies from 30 per cent to 29 per cent for the 2013-14 income year and subsequent income years. The reduction in the company tax rate is due to the introduction of the Minerals Resource Rent Tax and aims to increase productivity and promote broad-based economic growth (Media release)
• The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has released new regulatory guidance and a consultation paper to help business comply with its legal requirements leading up to the introduction of the Federal Government’s new carbon pricing scheme on 1 July 2012. Emissions units recognised under the scheme will be ‘financial products’ under the Corporations Act 2001 and ASIC will be responsible for regulating the entities and individuals that provide financial services in relation to these emissions units (Media release).

International Accounting Standards Board

• The IASB has released an updated work plan, dated 23 March 2012, incorporating the impacts of recently issued pronouncements and outlining revised 'current best estimates' for its various projects (IAS plus article)
• New issue of the IASB's Investor Perspectives - Improving disclosures about intercompany investments discusses IFRS 12 Disclosure of Interests in Other Entities.

External webcasts and Podcasts

• FASB’s priorities for 2012 webcast (link to Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) website) discusses the progress and future timelines of the four priority convergence projects with the IASB - Revenue Recognition, Leases, Financial Instruments and Insurance Contracts
• February 2012 IASB meeting podcast (mp3) - summary of the IASB regular meeting held on 27 February – 2 March 2012. The topics covered include Insurance contracts, financial instruments and leases
• March 2012 IASB meeting podcast (mp3) - summary of the IASB regular meeting held on 20-23 March 2012. The topics covered include Financial instruments – Macro hedge accounting, Insurance contracts and discussion on effective dates
• March 2012 IFRIC meeting podcast (mp3) - summary of the IASB regular meeting held on 13-14 March 2012. The topics covered include accounting for levies charged for participation in a specific market, Service Concession Arrangements, and Joint arrangements.

Other global news

• The NZ External Reporting Board (XRB) has announced the finalisation of its proposed multi-standards accounting framework for financial reporting purposes in New Zealand. The proposals apply different sets of standards and a 4 tiered framework to for-profit entities and public benefit entities (PBE) (XRB communiqué)
• The Accounting Professional and Ethical Standards Board (APESB) has issued Guidance Note (GN) 40 Ethical Conflicts in the workplace – Considerations for Members in Business (PDF 553kb) to assist professional accountants in business address a range of ethical issues, including potential conflicts of interest arising from responsibilities to employers, their preparation and reporting of information, financial interests and whistle blowing.

Related links

• Monthly roundup archive
• Assurance & Advisory QuickLinks
• Assurance and advisory services
• IFRS
• IAS Plus website