Bulletin to Members
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National Executive has accepted an offer from the CFO Executive Board (USA) to provide CFOs of member companies with their quarterly updates. The first update is on 'Key Developments in Finance' will be sent to CFOs shortly.
Michael D'Ascenzo led a very informative discussion of issues relating to tax administration when he met with the National Executive and CFOs of member organizations on 18 July 2007.
National Executive met with Treasury and ATO staff and the ASIC Chief Accountant for informal discussions on developing issues and the way in which the respective regulators are approaching regulatory activities.
In view of recent developments National Executive decided to refresh its publication 'Sustainability: Guide to Triple Bottom Line Reporting'. A Working Party will be formed to update the guidance.
A revised policy statement on short-termism will be issued shortly.
National Executive reviewed the pilot program and decided not to extend the program beyond the present arrangements. Executive agreed that mentoring programs are valuable in the development of executive talent and will seek other ways of supporting such programs.
The revised Guidelines will be issued on 2 August 2007.
The G100 has supported replacing the existing dividend regime with one that is based on solvency rather then one relying on archaic notions and legal precedent on distributability of profits. The difficulties with the present rules have been amplified with the adoption of IFRSs. In a recent meeting with Treasury staff, National Executive undertook to provide examples of situations where applying the present rules resulted in sub-optimal outcomes.
Members are encouraged to provide the G100 Secretariat (g100@group100.com.au) with examples of situations where the existing dividend rules applied in conjunction with Australian equivalents to IFRSs have resulted in, or could potentially result in, sub-optimal outcomes.
In its submission to the Simpler Regulation Reform process the G100 proposed that the requirement to present parent entity financial statements be replaced by a requirement to show summary financial information for the parent by way of note to the consolidated financial statement. In discussions with Treasury staff, National Executive was requested to provide information about the cost and usefulness of parent entity financial statements.
Members are requested to provide the G100 Secretariat with information about the order of costs incurred to comply with the current parent entity reporting requirements.
As part of its recent amendment to AASB 119 'Employee Benefits' the AASB removed guidance indicating its view that an active and liquid corporate bond market did not exist in Australia. The removal of this guidance relating to determining the discount rate for measuring employee benefit liabilities has resulted in differences in opinion about whether or not such a market exists. The G100 has written to the Reserve Bank of Australia seeking its views.
National Executive has formed a task force to prepare a submission on the SEC's proposal to eliminate US GAAP reconciliation for IFRS registrants where they comply with IFRSs as issued by the IASB.
Members are encouraged to participate in the PricewaterhouseCoopers survey (details attached) on the review of performance reporting by the IASB and FASB. The results of this survey of preparers will be an important input to the IASB/FASB project.
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