Successful Latin American representation at the IFASS congress

Counselor Daniel Sarmiento Pavas highlighted management in the discussion of the main points of the agenda: the implementation of big standards, the consistent application of IFRSs and, for the first time, the discussion on the accounting treatment of electronic money.

In March 2017, the semi-annual meeting of International Forum of Accounting Standard Setters (IFASS) was held in Taipei, Taiwan, with outstanding Latin American representation. Felipe Pérez Cervantes, President of the CINIF of Mexico, Daniel Sarmiento Pavas, member of the Public Accountancy Technical Board -PATB- and director of GLENIF for Colombia and Adriana Caetano, representative of the Brazilian Federal Accounting Board, were the Latin American representatives in the congress.

In an international event with wide representation – 64 delegates from 28 national issuers and three regional bodies – through counselor Sarmiento Pavas, Colombia led the discussion on the big standards at the table composed of representatives of the IASB, Belgium, India, Taiwan, Spain , Canada, Japan and New Zealand. On the other hand, Felipe Pérez presented the GLENIF proposal to modify IAS 29, in order to recognize the effect of inflation in the financial statements, despite the fact that the cumulative three-year index does not reach 100%, a subject that has been included in the pipeline projects being studied by the IASB. Likewise Adriana Caetano participated actively in the discussion tables of the international forum.

The main conclusion was the importance of participation in the review and debate on new standards, regarding the low involvement of stakeholders in IFRS 15 and IFRS16. Resources must be generated to achieve a successful and consistent implementation of the new standards, given the significant impacts of these standards, especially for certain sectors, such as airlines and retail business, among others.

Among other topics of interest addressed at the Taipei meeting, the strategy for IFASS to provide tools for the consistent application of IFRS was discussed: how to look for ways to ensure that countries in applying standards are consistent and changes and new standards do not affect the quality of information.

Other topics addressed during the event were:

  • Taxes on dividend distribution
  • Macro-hedging
  • IFRS application cases for income and provisions
  • Accounting Classification of Electronic Money