By James Langton
(April 11 – 12:45 ET) – The Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants has issued its latest newsletter, detailing a host of new developments in standards setting. The CICA is considering revisions to bring Canadian GAAP more in line with U.S. and international standards.
Its standards board has a draft exposure covering treatment of discontinued operations and extraordinary items, the diluting effect of warrants and options, the effect of preferred dividends, and transactions occurring after a reporting period but before the completion of financial statements. The board has approved the terms of reference for the Small Business Enterprise Advisory Committee.
The CICA board is also continuing discussions on standards for the recognition and measurement of all financial instruments at fair value . Those standards are being developed by the international Financial Instruments Joint Working Group of standard setters. It expects to issue the draft in Canada as a discussion paper for comment later in 2000.
The board meets on April 19, and again on May 17-18 at which time it expects to see a status report on business combinations, an exposure draft concerning earnings per share, discussions on employee future benefits and financial instruments, standards for interim financial reporting and a guideline on the transfer of receivables.