Le magazine du trésorier - n°73 - 1er trimestre 2011 - (Page 3)

The corporate treasurers and IFRS preparers have received their Christmas gift in early December 2010 under the form of a nice end of year Exposure Draft on financial instruments. This long waited (third) ED on IFRS 9 eventually came at a moment nobody expected it.We were all celebrating end of year and choosing our end of year gifts when finally the London based IFRS released the last part of the “son of IAS 39”. All treasurers would admit if IASB wanted to limit number of comment letters, the timing was excellent. On top of that the proposed deadline was 9th of March 2011.Three months for the most important part of IFRS 9 around year end and the financial statements closing season.Three months when we are all under water is not suitable to get sound comments. Fortunately, the hedge accounting part of IFRS 9 is not the revamping of the standard the IAS Board had initially announced.We should rather talk about a patching of IAS 39 (www.iasb.org). Luckily it seems IASB proposes less change than we thought and is more patching up “39” rather than completely renovating the standard. Eventually, this long trilogy process of IFRS 9 was as long as an elephant gestation. Unquestionably no single treasurer could dare to pretend that IAS 39 is not highly complex and inaccurate on different items. However, we think that this third part was mainly users focused, as if G20 recommendations were the key driver.Treasurers agree on being more transparent and to increase disclosures when the additional information is really read, understood and used by investors. The focus on users is obviously essential providing the marginal administrative burden is not disproportionate to the improved quality of disclosures. One of the risks identified is the competitive advantage preparers could often give to competitors (who are not always publicly listed companies, reporting under IFRS).The risk is here to go a bit too far in terms of disclosures and detailed figures. Nevertheless, this ED is not that bad. It is certainly not the worst issued by IASB.The European Association of Corporate Treasurers (EACT) has prepared a comment letter underlying positive aspects of the proposal, but also risks and practical issues on some of the provisions.Treasurers now hope the final part of IFRS 9 on hedge accounting will be readjusted and choice left in some specific situations. Lots of treasurers have not yet even read this third ED of IFRS 9.The role of the corporate treasury associations is therefore crucial to make sure their views and interests are defended. We did our best to address the issues found in the proposal released by IASB in late December of last year. F. Masquelier Chairman of ATEL EDITORIAL 3 Patching of IFRS 9, reason to worry? http://www.iasb.org

Table des matières de la publication Le magazine du trésorier - n°73 - 1er trimestre 2011

Surcouv
Couverture
Sommaire
EDITORIAL - Patching of IFRS 9, reason to worry?
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
INTERVIEW - Patrick Wallerand,
FOCUS
FORUM OF ADVERTISERS
CORPORATE FINANCE - 15 minutes with QlikTech
TREASURERS' ASSOCIATIONS
NEWS

Le magazine du trésorier - n°73 - 1er trimestre 2011