ASBJ exchanges the views with EFRAG

In the afternoon of September 22, 2008, Accounting Standards Board of Japan (ASBJ) invited Stig Enevoldsen, Chairman of the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG), and Paul Ebling, the EFRAG’s Technical Director, at the ASBJ office in Tokyo and had a meeting to exchange views about some issues regarding the IFRS. The meeting was joined by Ikuo Nishikawa, Chairman of the ASBJ and many of the technical staff members.

The ASBJ explained the outline of the Tokyo Agreement made in August 2007 and project items in short-, and mid & long-terms, in accordance with the revised Project Plan which was released on September 19, 2008. The session was followed by Mr. Enevoldsen’s presentation about the recent activities of the EFRAG.

The meeting went on to exchange views regarding the issue of liability and equity, with reference to the comment letters which the ASBJ and the EFRAG submitted to the IASB respectively, for the Discussion Paper “Financial Instrument with Characteristics of Equity.” A report was also presented about the result of the ASBJ’s survey on disclosure of internally generated development costs in the IFRS practices.

The active exchange of questions and answers enhanced mutual understanding between the EFRAG and the ASBJ, recognizing both commonality and differences in a variety of issues. At the end of the session, Chairman Nishikawa and Chairman Enevoldsen reconfirmed the significance of the opinion-exchange opportunities like this meeting.