Work will also continue on the disclosure initiative, with a proposed publication date for a discussion paper on the principle of disclosures by the end of June 2017. This has been delayed to give the board members the time to focus on the all-important IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts standard which still needs to be released in draft form with a March 2017 official standard publication date.

It is currently also reviewing and analysing the impact of goodwill and impairment on accounting with a view to taking a final decision on next steps in the second half of the year. This could involve further investigation of problematic accounting areas or amendments to current treatment, although the IASB has provided no further details.

A long-running and much-anticipated publication of a final revised Conceptual Framework is slated for July 2017, or ‘after six months’, according to the IASB workplan. This follows board discussions based on feedback to an exposure draft on the Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting issued in May 2015, the IASB board met earlier this month to discuss its approach on measurement, capital maintenance, business activities and derecognition. It also considered the implications of long-term investment on financial reporting.

As a result it plans to redraft the factors to consider in selecting a measurement basis with emphasis on the factors to consider when selecting a measurement basis, including relevance; faithful representation and the enhancing qualitative characteristics.

The Board agreed with the approach taken in the revised draft and made several comments to be considered in finalising the text of the revised Conceptual Framework.

A number of concrete decisions were made on the actual content of the Framework, albeit leaving room for further discussion.

In an update released after the recent board meeting, it was confimed that 11 board members agreed with the decision to adopt the approach to business activities proposed in the exposure draft. Specifically, the revised Conceptual Framework will discuss how the way in which an entity conducts its business activities may affect decisions about the unit of account, measurement, and presentation and disclosure, but will not introduce business activities as an overarching concept that affects all areas of financial reporting.

Further, it also confirmed the approach to long-term investment as proposed in the exposure draft. Specifically, the revised Conceptual Framework will not:

comment on long-term investment as a business activity because discussion of implications of any particular type of business activity is most appropriately developed in individual Standards, rather than generically in the revised Conceptual Framework;

include specific measurement or presentation concepts related to long-term investment because the revised Conceptual Framework will provide sufficient concepts to assist the IASB in making appropriate Standard-setting decisions on measurement and presentation, including decisions for long-term investments; and

supplement the discussion of the information needs of the primary users of financial statements with further discussion of the information needs of long-term investors in the reporting entity because the revised Conceptual Framework will provide sufficient concepts for the IASB to address appropriately the needs of all primary users of financial statements, including long-term investors.

The IASB Conceptual Framework Agenda Paper 10 notes are available here