IASB Agenda Consultation 2015

Project History

• the strategic direction and balance of the work plan of the IASB; and

• whether three years is the appropriate period between future Agenda Consultations.

The RfV seeks input only on the IASB work plan and covers the period mid-2016 until mid-2020. The other activities, such as education and content services, other implementation support, the IFRS Taxonomy, the impact of developments in technology and whether they are supporting adequately the consistent application of IFRS, are considered in the IFRS Foundation's Trustees' Review of Structure and Effectiveness: Issues for the Review as issued on 7 July with a deadline for comment of 30 November 2015. See for a link to the EFRAG project page here. 

EFRAG's Own Agenda Consultation

EFRAG proactive agenda is necessarily dependent on, and wherever possible coordinated with, the IASB Research activities. EFRAG has therefore decided to launch its own proactive agenda consultation in parallel with the IASB 2015 Agenda Consultation. This consultation on EFRAG's proactive agenda seeks views on both the development of EFRAG's proactive work over the recent years and EFRAG's future proactive agenda. See for a link to the EFRAG project page here.  

Outreaches

EFRAG together with the IASB organised outreach events covering both the EFRAG Proactive Work Consultation and EFRAG's response to the IASB Agenda Consultation in:

• Paris on 12 November - ANC (Autorité des normes comptables)

• Copenhagen 25 November - Confederation of Danish Industry (DI) and FSR (Danish Auditors)

EFRAG Final Comment Letter and Feedback Statement

EFRAG received 24 comment letters which have been carefully considered in arriving at the final EFRAG letter published on 19 January 2016. On 1 February 2016 EFRAG published a feedback statement summarising the main comments received by EFRAG on the draft comment letter and explaining how those comments were considered by EFRAG during its discussions leading to the publication of the EFRAG final comment letter.

EFRAG’s main observations in its letter are:

• The main priority is the finalisation of the Insurance Contracts Project, the revision of the Conceptual Framework and advancing on the Disclosure Initiative and the Dynamic Risk Management (Macro-hedging) Projects;

• EFRAG welcomes the evidence based standard setting approach but believes that the IASB should better explain how priorities are assigned and what objectives are pursued in each Research project. A categorisation of these projects would be helpful;

• Beyond the Disclosure Initiative and Dynamic Risk Management (Macro-hedging), EFRAG believes that the following five Research projects should have high priority: Financial Instruments with Characteristics of Equity; Discount Rates; Equity Method; Primary Financial Statements; and Goodwill and Impairment;

• EFRAG underlines the importance of Post-implementation Reviews in helping identify what works and what is in need for improvement in current practice. The use of Reviews should be extended beyond recently issued Standards;

• EFRAG believes that the IASB in its Research activities should leverage on the substantial work of EFRAG and other regional and national accounting standards setters;

• EFRAG supports IASB’s maintenance activities but believes the IASB needs to strike an appropriate balance with the need for stability for both preparers and users.