Proposed Update for Annual Improvements to the 2017 IFRS Taxonomy

The IFRS Foundation has published a Proposed IFRS Taxonomy Update to reflect changes to the 2017 IFRS Taxonomy resulting from annual improvements at http://www.ifrs.org/news-and-events/2017/11/ifrs-foundation-publishes-proposed-ifrs-taxonomy-update/.

The Proposed IFRS Taxonomy Update proposes a number of improvements to the 2017 IFRS Taxonomy, including:

• enhancements to the data model to support consistent tagging of reporting related to continuing and discontinued operations;
• changes to better reflect the disaggregation of disclosures in IAS 19 Employee Benefits; and
• changes to better reflect disclosures in IFRS 7 Financial Instruments: Disclosures relating to the initial application of IFRS 9 Financial Instruments.

Finally, this initiates an enhancement by the IFRS staff to title rather than number taxonomy updates to improve awareness of the nature of the taxonomy changes.

The public comment period will end on January 29, 2018.

Proposed updates to the IFRS Taxonomy update are released throughout the year as changes to the International Financial Reporting Standards, common practice elements, or taxonomy architecture take place, or as annual improvements that may include improvements to data models to support consistent tagging or improvements to better reflect presentation and disclosure requirements in IFRS Standards. After the comment period for each proposed update, a taxonomy update is issued. The annual IFRS Taxonomy, published in the first quarter of each calendar year, is a compilation of taxonomy updates released during the year. While each proposed update has a comment period, the annual IFRS Taxonomy has no public comment period.

Comments on this proposed update to the IFRS Taxonomy and the related support materials should be submitted directly to the IFRS Foundation. The SEC staff encourages filers, investors, analysts, software service providers, and other interested parties to participate in this public review to continue to improve the process for creating and using XBRL structured financial statements.

Only annual compilations of the IFRS Taxonomy that are specified on the Commission’s website may be used in SEC XBRL submissions. The availability for public comment of the Proposed IFRS Taxonomy Update to reflect changes to the 2017 IFRS Taxonomy resulting from annual improvements does not indicate Commission approval of any potential regulatory changes related to the EDGAR Filer Manual. Please refer to the SEC’s EDGAR webpage at http://www.sec.gov/info/edgar/tech-specs for updated information on when the Commission approves changes, if any, related to the EDGAR Filer Manual.