The IPSASB held its third meeting of the year virtually on September 14-18 and 22, 2020.
9. Next Meeting
The IPSASB approved COVID-19: Deferral of Effective Dates to defer the effective dates of the following standards and amendments by one year to January 1, 2023:
- IPSAS 41, Financial Instruments;
- IPSAS 42, Social Benefits;
- Long-term Interests in Associates and Joint Ventures (Amendments to IPSAS 36);
- Prepayment Features with Negative Compensation (Amendments to IPSAS 41);
- Collective and Individual Services (Amendments to IPSAS 19); and
- Certain amendments included in Improvements to IPSAS, 2019.
The option to early-adopt the above standards or amendments continues to apply.
The IPSASB approved Exposure Draft (ED) 74, Non-Authoritative Amendments to IPSAS 5, Borrowing Costs, and agreed on an exposure period ending March 1, 2021. ED 74 proposes implementation guidance and illustrative examples to clarify how to determine the extent to which borrowing costs can be capitalized.
The IPSASB approved Non-Authoritative Amendments to IPSAS 41, Financial Instruments, which includes additional implementation guidance and illustrative examples to clarify the requirements for classifying, recognizing, and measuring public sector specific financial instruments.
The IPSASB agreed an effective date of January 1, 2023, to align with the effective date of IPSAS 41, Financial Instruments.
The IPSASB reviewed draft ED 75, Leases and the Request for Information on Concessionary Leases and Other Arrangements Similar to Leases. The IPSASB decided not to amend the lessee’s requirements in draft ED 75 on discount rates as no public sector specific issues were identified. The IPSASB intends to approve ED 75, Leases at its December 2020 meeting.
The IPSASB continued developing its measurement hierarchy. The IPSASB agreed:
- The hierarchy applies to subsequent measurement;
- The measurement bases and techniques in the hierarchy; and
- The allocation of measurement techniques to measurement bases.
The IPSASB will review draft EDs reflecting these decisions at its next meeting. The IPSASB will also further consider the approach to measurement at initial recognition and whether the definition of value in use should continue to include non-cash-generating assets or whether an alternative public sector concept should be developed.
The IPSASB approved ED 79, Non-current Assets Held for Sale and Discontinued Operations. This ED will be issued together with ED 76, Conceptual Framework—Limited Scope Update, ED 77, Measurement, and ED 78, IPSAS 17 Update (Comprehensive ED bringing together changes to IPSAS 17 from Measurement, Infrastructure Assets and Heritage Assets); all of which are currently noted for approval by the end of 2020 on the IPSASB’s work program.
The IPSASB completed its review of issues identified by constituents when accounting for heritage and infrastructure assets. The IPSASB agreed the proposed authoritative guidance, implementation guidance and illustrative examples would support constituents in applying the Property, Plant and Equipment principles to infrastructure and heritage items in practice.
The IPSASB will consider the proposed guidance in its entirety at its December 2020 meeting as part of its review of ED 78.
The IPSASB agreed that a government’s sovereign power to issue licenses is not, in and of itself, an asset. The IPSASB also provided feedback on the staff’s survey to gather information regarding various jurisdictional legal frameworks for subsoil resources exploration, development and extraction, and on the draft structure of the consultation paper, its introduction and first chapter.
The next meeting of the IPSASB will take place in December, 2020. For more information, or to register as an observer, visit the IPSASB website (www.ipsasb.org).