The ICAC was represented at the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) annual conference for world accounting standard-setters held in London from October 25-26, 2012 by Andrew Brathwaite, Alternate Director on the ICAC Board and Chair of its Membership Committee.
Mr. Brathwaite, who is also a member of the SME Implementation Group of the International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation and immediate Past President of ICAB, was invited as a discussant for two sessions. The first focused on the comprehensive review of IFRS for SMEs in which he made a presentation in favour of allowing jurisdictions to permit publicly traded companies to use the IFRS for SMEs. This was based on one of the issues raised in the discussion document circulated by the IASB and open for comment until November 30, 2012. The second presentation was made on the endorsement mechanism in the Caribbean for new and amended IFRSs.
The 2012 World Standard-setters Conference focused on recent developments in the setting and implementing of international financial reporting standards. The technical sessions covered areas such as:
- IASB’s Future Agenda
- Comprehensive review of the IFRS for SMEs
- Working Together – IASB and Standard-setters
- Updates on new standards and staff drafts including
- IFRS 9: Financial Instruments
- IFRS 10: Consolidations
- IFRS11: Joint Arrangements
- IFRS 12: Disclosure of Interests in Other Entities
- IFRS 13: Fair Value Measurement
- Investment Entities
Participants were also given an update from the IFRS Interpretations Committee and the IFRS Advisory Council in addition to post-implementation reviews of a number of new standards, which is a recent IASB initiative. “The conference was valuable as important contacts were made with IASB board members and staffers, and with representatives of accounting standard-setting bodies from around the globe. Many of these standard-setters have had a very similar experience with implementing full IFRS and the IFRS for SMEs, and we in the Caribbean can benefit from their experiences and from the tools and practice aids which they have developed for their jurisdictions," said Mr. Brathwaite. "These relationships will also be vital in our individual efforts to develop financial reporting standards for micro-sized entities, and perhaps eventually convince the IASB to take this on as a project," he adds. “The ICAC’s participation at the IASB 2012 World Standards-setters Conference is in keeping with our efforts to increase our role and input at the regional and international levels. As a regional umbrella body, the ICAC has been promoting internationally acceptable accounting standards and practices for the accountancy profession in the Caribbean in an effort to ensure that member bodies adhere to international standards and best practices promulgated by global standard setters such as the IASB,” states ICAC President, Betty Brathwaite.
