The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) issues
an exposure draft of a revision to its Code of Ethics for
Professional Accountants. The ED proposes elevating its ethics
code to a standard requiring IFAC member compliance from a “model” on
which to base national requirements. It expands guidance for all
individual accountants with respect to integrity, objectivity,
confidentiality and professional competence and behavior, and it
identifies for professional accountants in public practice various
threats and safeguards relating to second opinions, fees and
remuneration and custody of client assets.
IFAC also releases seven draft statements of membership obligations (SMO) pertaining to quality assurance, investigation and discipline and standards for auditing, ethics, education, public-sector accounting and international financial reporting. The statements will require member organizations to report the extent to which they are implementing IFAC and international financial reporting standards and whether they have established enforcement structures to ensure compliance and appropriate investigative and disciplinary processes. Comments on all the proposals ( www.ifac.org/eds ) are due November 30.
The International Accounting Standards Board publishes
two exposure drafts (
www.iasb.org.uk ). One, Disposal of Non-current Assets and
Presentation of Discontinued Operations, proposes that assets a
company expects to sell and that meet specific criteria should be
measured at the lower of carrying amount and fair value less selling
costs, should not be depreciated and should be presented separately in
the balance sheet. It also deals with how, and under what
circumstances, an entity would classify as “discontinued” operations
with separately identifiable cash flows. If adopted, these proposals
would narrow existing differences with U.S. GAAP. Comments are due
October 24.
The other ED, Insurance Contracts , proposes guidance for insurance companies required to comply with international financial reporting standards (IFRS) in 2005. Accounting for insurance contracts varies throughout the world and often is inconsistent with accounting practices for other industries. The ED therefore introduces improved disclosures for such contracts and modest improvements to recognition and measurement practices. Comments are due October 31.
