AC Insights provides audit committee members with a summary of financial reporting developments for public companies using IFRS, how those developments might affect their company and things they may want to think about when reviewing financial reports. The insights are provided for developments to the end of the current quarter-end. Developments may occur subsequent to the quarter-end which change the guidance issued or perspectives on the guidance. Such changes will be reflected in subsequent editions of AC Insights.

One of the challenges of IFRS 3: Business Combinations, is determining whether a transaction is an acquisition of a business or just a group of assets. The existing definition is difficult to apply for certain transactions in the real estate, shipping, financial services, pharmaceutical, mining, oil and gas, and technology industries. These challenges have resulted in considerable structuring of transactions to achieve the desired accounting result, without necessarily adding value to the underlying transaction.

On October 22, 2018, the IASB responded by amending the definition of a business to help companies determine whether an acquisition is of a business or a group of assets. The narrow scope amendment to IFRS 3: Business Combinations amends the definition of a business and provides supplementary guidance to assist in the application of the definition. In addition, the amendments allow a simplified assessment of whether the acquisition involves a business or a group of assets.

Eleven SEC registrants that were duped through fake emails lost about US$100 million from these scams. These losses resulted in a SEC investigation, which did not result in charges to the issuers, but pointed to the need to strengthen internal controls for cyber-related risks.

In October 2018, the SEC issued a report on its investigation of certain public companies that were the victims of cyber-related frauds. This report was identified as a “must-read” by several participants at the recent AICPA Conference on Current SEC and PCAOB Developments held in December 2018.

The US edition also includes the CSA, SEC and Auditing developments discussed in the Canadian edition.