Agent

Control of an economic resource

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Control of an economic resource – This is all about: A present economic resource controlled by the entity as a result of past events. Two very simple examples to start with: Pat Co has purchased a patent for $20,000. The patent gives the company sole use of a particular manufacturing process which will save $3,000 a year for the next five years. This is an asset, albeit an intangible one. There is a past event, control and future economic benefit (through cost savings). Baldwin Co (the company) paid Don Brennan $10,000 to set up a car repair shop, on condition that priority treatment is given to cars from the company’s fleet. This cannot be classified as an asset. Baldwin Co … Read more

The real meaning of Integrated reporting

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The real meaning of integrated reporting

Integrated reporting is more than only aimed at informing interested stakeholders about performance achieved against targets, the vision and strategy adopted to serve the stakeholders’ interests, and other factors that can influence business performance in future.

Clearly regulations require companies to exercise transparency. However, a more fundamental reason for reporting lies in accountability: a company needs to account for the impact it has on the stakeholders it relates to. Not exercising such transparency would impose serious risks, including high financing costs to compensate for a lack of transparency or governance or, ultimately, losing the license to operate. By contrast, a transparent approach would not only improve reputation, but also would bind stakeholders such as employees to the company’s objectives.

The reason for including environmental and social factors in reporting

In today’s world companies play a significant role in shaping the future of society. Awareness of this has risen significantly over the last decades, resulting in changed attitudes towards the role business is expected to play.

It also resulted in changes in the views of business leaders about the role they want to play.

Business these days is seen more than ever as the agent of a wide group of stakeholders. Unlike the old paradigm that ‘the business of business is business’, companies accept wider accountability in current times towards the stakeholders whose interests they impact – no longer can companies focus only on the interests of those with a financial interest.

This wider accountability implies that companies have to fulfil the (information) needs of those who provide them with integrated reportingother economic resources such as labour, space, air or natural resources and those who enter into transactions with the organization such as customers. Therefore a company’s current performance and future ability to continue operations and achieve business growth needs to be evaluated on the basis of a comprehensive set of factors that influence these.

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IFRS 10 Principal versus agent considerations – Best complete read

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Principal versus agent considerations – Certain decision-makers may be obligated to exercise their decision powers on behalf of other parties and do not exercise their decision powers for their own benefit. IFRS 10 regards such decision-makers as ‘agents’ that are engaged to act on behalf of another party (the ‘principal’). A principal may delegate some of its power over the investee to the agent, but the agent does not control the investee when it exercises that power on behalf of the principal (IFRS 10.B58). Power normally resides with the principal rather than the agent (IFRS 10.B59). There may be multiple principals, in which case each of the principals should assess whether it has power over the investee (IFRS 10.B59). An … Read more

High level overview IFRS 3 Business Combinations

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HIGH LEVEL OVERVIEW IFRS 3 BUSINESS COMBINATIONS A summary on one page and more detail for reference The overview Scope & Identifying a business combination A business combination is: Transaction or event in which acquirer obtains control over a business (e.g. acquisition of shares or net assets, legal mergers, reverse acquisitions).High level overview IFRS 3 Business Combinations High level overview IFRS 3 Business Combinations IFRS 3 Business Combinations IFRS 3 does not apply to: The accounting for the formation of a joint arrangement in the financial statements of the joint arrangement itself. Acquisition of an asset or group of assets that is not a business. A combination of entities or businesses under common control. Definition of “control of an investee” … Read more

IFRS 10 Special control approach

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IFRS 10 Special control approach

– determines which entities are consolidated in a parent’s financial statements and therefore affects a group’s reported results, cash flows and financial position – and the activities that are ‘on’ and ‘off’ the group’s balance sheet. Under IFRS, this control assessment is accounted for in accordance with IFRS 10 ‘Consolidated financial statements’.

Some of the challenges of applying the IFRS 10 Special control approach include:

  • identifying the investee’s returns, which in turn involves identifying its assets and liabilities. This may appear straightforward but complications arise when the legal ownership of assets diverges from the accounting depiction (for example, in financial asset transfers that ‘fail’ de-recognition, and in finance leases). In general, the assessment of the investee’s assets and returns should be consistent with the accounting depiction in accordance with IFRS
  • it may not always be clear whether contracts and other arrangements between an investor and an investee
    • create rights or exposure to a variable return from the investee’s performance for the investor; or
    • transfer risk or variability from the investor to the investee IFRS 10 Special control approach
  • the relevant activities of an SPE may not be obvious, especially when its activities have been narrowly specified in its purpose and design IFRS 10 Special control approach
  • the rights to direct those activities might also be difficult to identify, because for example, they arise only in particular circumstances or from contracts that are outside the legal boundary of the SPE (but closely related to its activities).

IFRS 10 Special control approach sets out requirements for how to apply the control principle in less straight forward circumstances, which are detailed below:  IFRS 10 Special control approach

  • when voting rights or similar rights give an investor power, including situations where the investor holds less than a majority of voting rights and in circumstances involving potential voting rights
  • when an investee is designed so that voting rights are not the dominant factor in deciding who controls the investee, such as when any voting rights relate to administrative tasks only and the relevant activities are directed by means of contractual arrangements IFRS 10 Special control approach
  • involving agency relationships IFRS 10 Special control approach
  • when the investor has control only over specified assets of an investee
  • franchises. IFRS 10 Special control approach

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Best guide IFRS 16 Lessee modifications

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Best guide IFRS 16 Lessee modifications

summarises the process surrounding changes in lease contracts that identify as lease modification.

A lessee that chooses not to apply the practical expedient (IFRS 16 option for rent concessions arising directly from the COVID-19 pandemic that are not going to be accounted for as lease modifications), or agrees changes to its lease contracts that do not qualify for the practical expedient, assesses whether there is a lease modification.

Overview

A change in the scope of a lease, or the consideration for a lease, that was not part of the original terms and conditions meets the standard’s definition of a lease modification.

A lessee accounts for a lease modification as a separate lease if both of the following conditions exist:

  • the modification increases the scope of the lease by adding the right to use one or more underlying assets; and
  • the consideration for the lease increases by an amount equivalent to the stand- alone price for the increase in scope and any appropriate adjustments to that stand-alone price to reflect the circumstances of the particular contract.

For a modification that is not a separate lease, at the effective date of the modification the lessee accounts for it by remeasuring the lease liability using a discount rate determined at that date and:

  • for modifications that decrease the scope of the lease: decreasing the carrying amount of the right-of-use asset to reflect the partial or full termination of the lease, and recognising a gain or loss that reflects the proportionate decrease in scope; and
  • for all other modifications: making a corresponding adjustment to the right-of- use asset.

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1st and best IFRS Accounting for client money

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IFRS Accounting for client money

If an entity holds money on behalf of clients (‘client money’):

  • should the client money be recognised as an asset in the entity’s financial statements?
  • where the client money is recognised as an asset, can it be offset against the corresponding liability to the client on the face of the statement of financial position?

DEFINITION: Client money

“Client money” is used to describe a variety of arrangements in which the reporting entity holds funds on behalf of clients. Client money arrangements are often regulated and more specific definitions of the term are contained in some regulatory pronouncements. The guidance in this alert is not specific to any particular regulatory regime.

Entities may hold money on behalf of clients under many different contractual arrangements, for example:

  • a bank may hold money on deposit in a customer’s bank account;
  • a fund manager or stockbroker may hold money on behalf of a customer as a trustee;
  • an insurance broker may hold premiums paid by policyholders before passing them onto an insurer;
  • a lawyer or accountant may hold money on behalf of a client, often in a separate client bank account where the interest earned is for the client’s benefit.

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The 2 essential types of share-based payments

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The 2 essential types of share-based payments – Snapshot Share-based payments are classified based on whether the entity’s obligation is to deliver its own equity instruments (equity-settled) or cash or other assets (cash-settled). 1. Equity-settled share-based payments For equity-settled transactions, an entity recognises a cost and a corresponding entry in equity. Measurement is based on the grant-date fair value of the equity instruments granted. Market and non-vesting conditions are reflected in the initial measurement of fair value, with no subsequent true-up for differences between expected and actual outcome. The estimate of the number of equity instruments for which the service and non-market performance conditions are expected to be satisfied is revised during the vesting period such that the cumulative amount … Read more

Overview IFRS 10 Consolidated Financial Statements

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Overview IFRS 10 Consolidated Financial Statements – Short – To establish principles for the presentation and preparation of consolidated financial statements when an entity controls one or more other entities Overview IFRS 10 Consolidated Financial Statements Longer – IFRS 10 replaces the part of IAS 27 Consolidated and Separate Financial Statements that addresses accounting for subsidiaries on consolidation. What remains in IAS 27 after the implementation of IFRS 10 is the accounting treatment for subsidiaries, jointly controlled entities and associates in their separate financial statements. The aim of IFRS 10 is to establish a single control model that is applied to all entities including special purpose entities. The changes require those dealing with the implementation of IFRS 10 to exercise … Read more