Новости

ASB takes pension criticism on the chin

The Accounting Standards Board (ASB) says it’s unfazed by the barrage of criticism that has been directed towards its discussion paper on the financial reporting of pensions.

Minfin published IFRS learning materials for free

The Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation published free training materials on its official website.

Russian NASB sent a comment letter to IASB

NASB supports the idea to use value of investments according to formerly employed national accounting standards as “deemed cost” indicated in financial accountancy, prepared under IFRS for the first time; it also supports the idea to spread those regulations on jointly controlled and associate entities. Finally, it is considered as a good idea to eliminate the so-called “cost method” (for accounting for dividend payments) from the list of IAS 27 provisions.

South Africa: New Accounting Framework for Small Companies Simplifies Reporting

A new accounting framework released recently by the International Accounting Standards Board for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will provide relief from many of the stringent reporting requirements. SA was the first country to adopt the new requirements.

FASB to Look Into Off-Balance-Sheet Vehicles

The agency that sets accounting standards will look into how U.S. banks treat off-balance-sheet vehicles that contributed to the more than $150 billion in losses that have hit financial institutions, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

Russian banks advised not to borrow from abroad

Starting from the 1st of March, several new Central Bank’s regulations came into force in Russia. The regulator increased reserve requirements for liabilities of credit organizations. For liabilities to individual persons, this normative was increased from 4 to 4.5%, for liabilities to non-residential banks (both in rubles and foreign currency) – from 4.5 to 5.5%. For all other banks’ liabilities, no matter whether they are in rubles or foreign currency, the CB set requirements at the level of 5% instead of former 4.5%. Experts say these have never been higher since June 2004.

SSARS 16, and Audits of Non-Accelerated Filers

The AICPA’s Accounting and Review Services Committee (ARSC) has released SSARS No. 16, which defines the terminology the ARSC will use to describe the degrees of responsibility imposed on the accountant by Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) No. 102, “Defining Professional Requirements in Statements on Auditing Standards”.

Management companies will be allowed to create “golden” mutual funds

Russian managers will soon be able to invest MIF funds into gold and other precious metals. This may be done in full accordance with the new order of the Federal Financial Markets Service (FFMS), soon coming in force – the one that introduces a new notion of “goods market funds”. According to experts, it will allow management companies to properly diversify investments of private individuals (especially taking into account current instability on world markets), but nonetheless, it will hardly attract new clients.

Financial Restatements Declined in 2007

Research firm Audit Analytics found that 1,109 different companies made a total of 1,237 restatements in 2007, a 31 percent decrease in the number of restatements and a 30 percent drop in the number of companies, compared to 2006. The trend indicated that publicly traded companies are finally adapting to more rigorous financial reporting conventions, such as those imposed by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

IASB publishes a discussion paper on financial instruments with characteristics of equity

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) today published for public comment a discussion paper on the distinction between equity financial instruments and other financial instruments (non-equity instruments).