Technical Roundup 17 November

Welcome to this edition of Technical Roundup.

In recent developments, Global Reporting Initiative has announced the upcoming launch of the Sustainability Innovation Lab which is being established to enable companies to meet their evolving sustainability disclosure requirements and the Financial Reporting Council invites stakeholders to attend a webinar on Thursday, 23 November on its consultation to strengthen auditor requirements to detect and report material misstatements from non-compliance with laws and regulations.

Read more on these and other developments that may be of interest to members below.

Financial Reporting

EFRAG, the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group has published its draft comment letter in response to the International Accounting Standard Board’s  Exposure Draft- Annual Improvements Volume 11. The Exposure Draft proposes minor improvements and clarifications in relation to IFRS accounting standards. In its draft response, EFRAG agreed with the majority of the proposed changes, and disagreed with proposed amendments to IFRS 9 on derecognition of lease liabilities.

EFRAG has released its October 2023 update which summarises public technical discussions and decisions taken in the month.

EFRAG has updated its Endorsement Status Report, which now reflects the EC’s endorsement of IAS 12 International Tax Reforms – Pillar Two Model Rules.

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has published its latest thematic review “IFRS 17 ‘Insurance Contracts’ Interim Disclosures in the First Year of Application”. IFRS 17 became effective on 1 January 2023 and represents a fundamental change in accounting for insurance contracts, introducing a comprehensive principles-based approach to replace the previous approach under IFRS 4. The report aims to provide examples of better practice for companies when considering the completeness of their upcoming and year-end disclosures. Whilst identifying some areas for improvement, the FRC noted that overall they were pleased with the quality of IFRS 17 disclosures.

The IFRS Foundation has published Compilation of Agenda Decisions- Volume 9. This compilation includes three agenda decisions from the IFRS Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) covering;

• Premiums Receivable from an Intermediary (IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts and IFRS 9 Financial Instruments);
• Homes and Home Loans Provided to Employees (IAS 19); and
• Guarantee over a Derivative Contract (IFRS 9).

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has published a consultation paper on proposed changes to the Actuarial Standard Technical Memorandum 1 (AS TM1) (and its Annex: Exposure Draft of version 5.0 of TM1) to reflect the changes in the market conditions and outlook.

Following on from King Charles Speech to Parliament on 7 November the FRC has highlighted that the UK Government’s plan for primary legislation to modernise the regulation of audit, corporate reporting and governance has not been prioritised for the next Parliamentary session.

Assurance and Auditing

On August 2, the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) launched a public consultation on its landmark proposed global sustainability assurance standard, International Standard on Sustainability Assurance (ISSA) 5000, General Requirements for Sustainability Assurance Engagements.  The results of this campaign have now been published.

IAASA has published five factsheets providing an overview of its role and approach to the quality assurance review of the audits of public interest entities in Ireland.  The factsheets summarise the review process of the relevant firms and give a set of links to access other relevant information such as previous thematic reviews and IAAS’s annual reports.

The FRC is holding a webinar on Thursday, 23 November on its consultation to strengthen auditor requirements to detect and report material misstatements from non-compliance with laws and regulations.

Sustainability

EFRAG and CDP have announced that they will cooperate to maximise alignment of CDP’s global environmental disclosure platform with the EU’s environmental reporting standards. This alignment is intended to drive market uptake of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards. In doing this, CDP, supported by EFRAG, will offer webinars and detailed technical guidance materials to support companies reporting on ESRS data points through CDP.

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has announced the launch of a Sustainability Innovation Lab. This is being established to enable companies to meet their evolving sustainability disclosure requirements and to encourage innovative thinking.

ESG Governance – Questions Boards should ask to lead the Sustainability Transition: This document, issued by Accountancy Europe, ecoDa and ECIIA, aims to help boards with embedding sustainability – and specifically environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors, into company strategy and business models, and to ensure that proper governance supports this.

Anti-money laundering and Sanctions

The latest edition of the UK National Crime Agency SARs Reporters Booklet for November 2023 whereby it shares perspectives on the SARs regime, is now available on their website.

The European Commission has this month published a full list of PEPs for EU countries. The list for Ireland bear close resemblance to the list in the guidelines that were issued by the Irish Dept. Of Justice in January of this year.

The European Parliament has recently issued a report on EU sanctions implementation and monitoring. It includes recommendations to reinforce the EU’s capacities to implement and monitor sanctions. The think tank writes that the EU should agree on a joint definition of what constitutes a competent national authority, ensure adequate guidance for the EU’s economic operators, enhance the involvement of implementation and enforcement expertise in the planning phase of sanctions regimes, and design a new horizontal sanctions regime to counter circumvention. You can access the think tank summary and the report here.

Insolvency

The first in a series to introduce members of the Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies – Ireland (CCAB-I) Insolvency Committee was recently published. The first edition, available here, features Cormac Mohan. Cormac is the managing partner at Fitzwilliam Corporate Insolvency, a Dublin based corporate restructuring practice. He is an experienced Insolvency Practitioner; Past President of CPA Ireland and is a member of the CCAB-I Insolvency Committee since 2016.

Other News

The European Securities & Markets Authority (ESMA) is inviting comments re Consultation on the review of Tier 1 CCP Fees regarding all matters in this paper and in particular on the specific questions summarised in Annex 1. ESMA will consider all comments received by 10 November 2023.

ESMA has also published the latest edition of its Spotlight on Markets Newsletter for October 2023.

The FRC has published the 2023 suite of FRC Taxonomies.  The 2024 suite incorporates changes to all of the FRC’s Taxonomies - UK IFRS, FRS 101, FRS 102, UKSEF, and Charities – available in English or Welsh.

The FRC has published its Review of Corporate Governance Reporting. This report showcases examples of high-quality and insightful corporate governance reporting by companies. In its report, the FRC noted that they were encouraged by the fact that companies were more transparent in reporting departures from the Corporate Governance Code, but were also disappointed by the many examples boilerplate reporting which fails to meet stakeholder expectations.

The Charities Regulator's latest newsletter has issued which includes important dates for your diary and the impact of volunteers are themes throughout this month’s edition.  

The Financial Conduct Authority have issued Discussion Paper 23/4: Regulating cryptoassets Phase 1: Stablecoins.  The DP will help develop their regime for flat-backed stablecoins including when used as a means of payment.

The European Commission have published a Draft Act on Supervision of crypto-assets – criteria, procedures and fees.  This draft act is open for feedback until 6 December.

The Irish Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has recently published its Strategy Statement 2024-2026. The press release states that the statement sets out four strategic goals which span the CCPC’s broad remit and work. It will work to use its tools, including new powers, to increase enforcement and compliance outcomes, empower consumers to make informed choices, be the leading voice in promoting open and competitive markets and representing the interests of consumers and evolve and grow in size and capability. You can read the strategy statement here.

The Governor of the Central Bank recently addressed the Irish League of Credit Unions conference. He spoke on a range of matters including the significant opportunity provided by the Credit Union Amendment Bill and of the significant opportunities which exist in relation to credit union lending. You can read further details here .Also this week the Central Bank has published Individual Accountability Framework Standards and Guidance .The press release on its website states that  Following a three month consultation process, the Central Bank has published a Feedback Statement and issued draft Regulations and Guidance to firms on the Individual Accountability Framework.

The Corporate Enforcement Authority (CEA) has opened a subscription to its newsletter mailing list. It aims to send a CEA newsletter every quarter to provide subscribers with updates on CEA news and company law matters. You can sign up to the newsletter by going to the CEA home page.

A reminder to readers that the CRO has published its Christmas filing deadlines and clarifies that processing before the Christmas break of submissions received after the dates below cannot be guaranteed:     

For further technical information and updates please visit the Technical Hub on the Institute website.