Financial Instruments with Characteristics of Equity

Timeline 

The IASB issued an Exposure Draft (ED) Financial Instruments with Characteristics of Equity (FICE) on 29 November 2023.

Final Comment Letter

All responses received were considered when finalising the Comment Letter. The UKEB Comment Letter was published on 3 April 2024. An accompanying Feedback Statement, describing how feedback received from stakeholders was addressed, was also published on the same date.

The following relevant documents are available at the foot of this page:

1. Draft Comment Letter and Invitation to Comment
2. Responses from stakeholders
3. Final Comment Letter
4. Feedback Statement

Background 

In 2018, the IASB issued a discussion paper on FICE. Following feedback from stakeholders, the IASB decided to make clarifying amendments to IAS 32 Financial Instruments: Presentation and to develop additional application guidance to support consistency of application of that standard. The IASB has also developed presentation and disclosure requirements.

The ED proposes amendments on the following topics:

• The effects of laws and regulations;
• Obligations to redeem own equity instruments;
• Contingent settlement provisions;
• The fixed-for-fixed condition;
• Reclassifications;
• Shareholders’ discretion;
• Presentation of equity instruments and financial liabilities;
• Disclosures; and
• Transition.

The UKEB has monitored the development of the IASB project. Updates for the UKEB have been included in IASB General Update and Preliminary Analysis papers, detailed below.

UKEB Meetings

• June 2022 IASB General Update: Contingent settlement provisions and effects of laws and regulations
• July 2022 IASB General Update: Reclassifications
• September and October 2022 IASB General Updates: Obligations to redeem own equity instruments
• January 2023 IASB General Updates: Presentation of equity instruments and financial liabilities
• March 2023 IASB General Update: Sweep issues, classification of financial instruments with a contractual obligation to deliver cash at the discretion of the entity’s shareholders and additional disclosures to ensure that amounts attributable to ordinary shareholders are more visible in the accounts
• May 2023 IASB General Update: Disclosures in IFRS 7 and IAS 1
• June 2023 IASB General Update: Consequential Amendments to the project Subsidiaries without Public Accountability and Due Process Steps and Permission to Ballot.
• October 2023 Project Initiation Plan (see below)
• December 2023 Preliminary Analysis paper
• January 2024 Preliminary Analysis paper
• March 2024 Final Comment Letter and Feedback Statement (see below)
• April 2024 Items for noting: Due Process Compliance Statement
• June 2024 IASB General Update: Discuss summary of feedback and key themes emerging from comment letters responding to the ED
• September 2024 IASB General Update: Discuss summary of feedback on the ED from users of financial statements, and a proposed project plan
• November 2024 IASB General Update: Discuss summary of feedback received on the presentation and disclosure proposals in the ED
• February 2025 IASB General Update: Discuss refinements to presentation and disclosure proposals in the ED

Outreach 

The UKEB outreach on this project has included discussions with advisory groups and public consultation. For more information, see the Feedback Statement (below).

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