29th July 2022 – The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has today published its Third Agenda Consultation Snapshot and Feedback Statement, outlining its priorities for the five-year period from 2022 to 2026 and explaining the reasons for its decisions. The Feedback Statement captures the extensive feedback the IASB has obtained from its diverse group of stakeholders via a public consultation in 2021. This has helped to shape the IASB’s activities and work plan.
The three main strategic priorities are to:
1. Maintain the strategic direction and balance of the IASB’s activities
Stakeholders confirmed that the IASB has set the direction and balance of its activities about right. The IASB has decided, therefore, to leave its current level of focus on its main activities largely unchanged. Stakeholders, however, have asked the IASB to increase slightly its efforts in developing digital financial reporting and on improving the understandability and accessibility of IFRS Accounting Standards.
2. Complete current projects
Stakeholders urged the IASB to prioritise projects on the current work plan, undertake post-implementation reviews of recently adopted Accounting Standards and respond to emerging time-sensitive work. Consistent with this feedback, the IASB has committed to advancing its current work plan. Deliberations on its current projects such as Primary Financial Statements, Goodwill and Impairment and others are expected to continue for the rest of 2022 and into 2023.
3. Add intangibles and cash flows to work plan
Stakeholders also provided their views on which new projects the IASB should prioritise over the coming years. The IASB assessed the importance of these projects to investors and considered capacity constraints that stakeholders face before deciding to add two new projects to its research pipeline. One will be a comprehensive review of the accounting requirements for intangible assets while the other will review the accounting requirements for the statement of cash flows and related matters.
The IASB has also decided to add a narrow-scope project to its maintenance pipeline to examine whether further guidance is needed on the reporting of climate-related risks in the financial statements. The IASB also created a reserve list of two projects that could be added to its work plan if additional capacity becomes available— operating segments and pollutant pricing mechanisms.
In addition to these activities, stakeholders also urged the IASB to work in concert with the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). They signalled that the two sets of Standards should form a connected financial reporting package that meets investors’ information needs. The IASB has identified possible areas of collaboration with the ISSB.
Presenting the IASB’s priorities for 2022 to 2026, IASB Chair Andreas Barckow said:
“I am pleased to share our priorities which will continue to improve financial reporting, support capital markets and serve the public interest.
We appreciate the valuable input from our stakeholders on this agenda consultation. Their expertise and thoughtful contributions have helped us develop a plan that speaks to the matters that are and will be critical to capital markets. We look forward to engaging with our stakeholders in our activities.”
