Financial Reporting Newsletter: Regulatory Environment in Australia

This newsletter provides an overview of the changes and developments in the financial reporting environment in Australia between December 1, 2019, and March 15, 2020. It covers amendments to Australian Accounting Standards (AASB) including AASB 15 and AASB 1058, and new issues in AASB such as AASB 1059, AASB 2018-6, and AASB 2019-3. The newsletter also highlights amendments to ASX listing rules regarding market-sensitive contracts and minor drafting changes. Furthermore, it includes updates from the IASB and reviews by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) on financial reporting and audit inspections. The report emphasizes the importance of understanding these changes for financial reporting authorities and firms, providing links to further information for detailed study.

Running head: NEWSLETTER
Changes In regulatory environment of Australia
Address Contact
Date-
Introduction
Financial reports are the blue print of the organization, which provides the ideas to the firms
and companies on how to improve their existing performance under the umbrella of
Australian Accounting system based on Australian Accounting Standards (AAS). While
having an in-depth research it can be observed that, there have been certain amendments
which are capable of creating impact on the overall performance of the firm on the front foot
of the financial aspect. In this newsletter, the key developments that have been present
amongst the boards have been discussed along with the issues and the ASIC review and how
financial reporting authorities deal with it.
Changes in AAS
On the Date of- December, 16, 2019
 This standard amends AASB 15 Revenue from contracts with customers and AASB
1058. These amendments are in respect of not-for-profit entities to apply those
standards to research grant..
 This amendment helped the boards in understanding the different interpretations and
the application of the standard.
 It also comprises of the Board’s decision towards to include the additional example to
demonstrate better understanding of the receipt and the consumption of the donor
benefits.
This information is accessible on

1NEWSLETTER
“<https://www.aasb.gov.au/admin/file/content105/c9/AASB_2019-6_12-19.pdf>”
Amendment to ASX listing rule
On the Date of – February, 28, 2020
The amendments to ASX listing have been mentioned below:
 The counterparties will be recognized in announcements regarding market sensitive
contracts.
 Minor drafting changes.
 ASX may impose in order to address the breach of the rule 3.1 or 3.1B.
 This information is accessible on
“< https://www.asx.com.au/regulation/rules/recent-rule-amendments.htm>”
On the Date of ,January, 2020, IASB update
 Subsidiaries that are SME’s – Agenda Paper 31
 Business combination under common control —Agenda Papers 23A and 23B
 Amendments to IFRS 17- Insurance Contracts – Agenda Paper 2
The assessment of the standards has been carried out in detail to figure out how beneficial
they are for the future use.
This information is accessible on
“< https://www.ifrs.org/news-and-events/updates/iasb-updates/january-2020/#1>”
New issues in AAS
 AASB 1059 Service Concession Arrangements: Grantors
 AASB 2018-6 Amendments to Australian Accounting Standards –Definition of a
Business
 AASB 2019-3 Amendments to Australian Accounting Standards – Interest Rate
Benchmark Reform
As per these issues, the AASB 1059 is applied for the first time in annual reporting and
AASB 2018-6 and AASB 2019-3 have been applied in January 2020.
This information is accessible on
“<https://assets.ey.com/content/dam/ey-sites/ey-com/en_au/topics/ifrs/ey-new-accounting-
standards-31-dec-2019.pdf>”

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Reviews given by ASIC on financial reporting
 31 December 2019 financial reports review
 Audit inspection findings
 Financial reporting and auditing
This information is accessible on
“<https://asic.gov.au/regulatory-resources/financial-reporting-and-audit/preparers-of-
financial-reports/>”
Summary
From the overall analysis it is evident that major developments and the changes have been
observed under the Australian Accounting system and it will be mandatory for the firms to
follow it, and for the financial reporting authorities to consider it. The new accounting
standards will have to be well understood by financial reporting authorities.

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Bibliography
AASB, (2019). Amendments to Australian Accounting Standards – Research Grants and
Notfor-Profit Entities. Retrieved from
https://www.aasb.gov.au/admin/file/content105/c9/AASB_2019-6_12-19.pdf
ASIC, (2020). Financial reporting and audit. Retrieved from Financial reporting and audit.
Retrieved from https://asic.gov.au/regulatory-resources/financial-reporting-and-
audit/preparers-of-financial-reports/
ASX, (2020). Recent rule amendments. Retrieved from
https://www.asx.com.au/regulation/rules/recent-rule-amendments.htm
EY, (2020). New accounting standards and interpretations. Retrieved from
https://assets.ey.com/content/dam/ey-sites/ey-com/en_au/topics/ifrs/ey-new-
accounting-standards-31-dec-2019.pdf
IFRS, (2020). IASB Update January 2020. Retrieved from https://www.ifrs.org/news-and-
events/updates/iasb-updates/january-2020/#1