Corporate Reporting to Stakeholders

Corporate reporting in Canada has changed dramatically since the CICA Corporate Reporting Awards (CRA) program was launched in 1951. A new research study on Corporate Reporting to Stakeholders aims to promote effective communication between a company and its stakeholders by providing useful guidance to preparers of corporate reports. The study was prepared by current and former CRA judges.

It is based on an in-depth review of the annual reports and websites of 125 companies that have participated in the CRA program. This study examines practices and significant trends in corporate reporting by analyzing:

• more than 50 different types of information disclosed in 2004-2005 annual reports;
• major changes in the 2004, 2005 and 2006 annual reports of award-winning companies;
• information content, presentation and navigation on company websites in 2007.

SEC Announces Successor to EDGAR Database

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Christopher Cox has unveiled the successor to the agency’s 1980s-era EDGAR database, which will give investors far faster and easier access to key financial information about public companies and mutual funds. The decision to replace EDGAR marks the SEC's transition from collecting forms and documents to making the information itself freely available to investors to give them better and more up-to-date financial disclosure in a form they can readily use. The new system is called IDEA, short for Interactive Data Electronic Applications. Based on a completely new architecture being built from the ground up, it will at first supplement and then eventually replace the EDGAR system. (Read the SEC's On-Line News Release which includes links to a video demonstration of IDEA.)

IASC-IASB chronology

Deloitte has published an updated Chronology of the IASC and the IASB to reflect recent events, exposure drafts, final standards and interpretations. The chronology dates back to 1966.

Canada's Expert Panel on Securities Regulation

The Expert Panel was announced by the federal Minister of Finance on February 21, 2008 to provide advice on the best way forward to improve securities regulation in Canada. The Panel held a series of cross-country, face-to-face meetings involving a wide range of stakeholders in Canada’s capital markets. A summary of these consultations reflects the themes, issues and a range of answers to questions posed by the Panel in their public consultation document. As well, the Panel invited input through its website. More than 70 formal submissions have been received. The Stakeholder Report and written submissions are available on the Panel’s website.

Canada - Disclosing IFRS changeover plans in the MD&A

The conversion of Canadian standards to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) is likely to cause significant changes in the financial reporting practices of publicly accountable entities regulated by the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA). In Staff Notice 52-320, Disclosure of Expected Changes in Accounting Policies Relating to Changeover to International Financial Reporting Standards, the staff of the CSA provides guidance on their expectations. Disclosure of changeover plans is expected for entities that at the time of issuing an interim MD&A have developed a changeover plan, but in no case should that discussion be provided later than in the annual MD&A published for the period three years before the changeover date. For most entities, this means the annual MD&A for 2008, with consideration to be given to quarterly disclosures during 2008. For additional insight, read the Deloitte Canada publication How to Monitor a Sea Change: Discussing your IFRS changeover plan in the MD&A.

SEC Advisory Committee Makes Recommendations to Improve Financial Reporting for Investors

The Chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Christopher Cox, has received the final report of an SEC advisory committee containing 25 recommendations to make financial information more useful and understandable to investors. (Read the SEC Press Release.)

Corporate Reporting: Trends and Tensions in Convergence

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu recently contributed a paper to the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) 2008 Yearbook on Corporate Reporting: Trends and Tensions in Convergence. The paper focuses on the evolution of accounting standards and the issues associated with convergence and adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).