Mr. D. Scott Showalter joined the IPSASB Board in January 2020, nominated by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Mr. Showalter is a Professor of Practice and Director of the Master of Accounting Program in the Poole College of Management at North Carolina State University. Prior to joining the faculty in 2008, Mr. Showalter was an audit partner with KPMG LLP, where he retired after a 33-year career. During his career with KPMG, he provided audit and consulting services to large Federal, state and local governments.

Mr. Showalter is the former chair and Board member of the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB) where he completed his 10-year term in June 2019. He is the past chair of the Board of the North Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants and a current member of the AICPA Board of Directors. He also served two terms as a member of the Standing Advisory Group to the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. He has served in numerous leaderships positions in the American Accounting Association.

Mr. Showalter earned a BS degree in accounting, Summa Cum Laude, from the University of Richmond and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the North Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants. He is a licensed Certified Public Accountant (active) and Chartered Global Management Accountant.

Patricia Siqueira Varela became a member of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board in January 2020. She was nominated by the Conselho Federal de Contabilidade (CFC), responsible for the regulation and representation of accounting professionals in Brazil.

Prof. Varela is currently a researcher and a professor at the University of São Paulo (Brazil) in the School of Economics, Business and Accounting. She has supervised students in the Program of Postgraduate Studies in Controllership and Accounting and is the leader of the research group Center of Studies in Accounting and Government. Her research and publications focus on public sector accounting and public policies performance.

Prof. Varela also performs the role of standard-setter as a member of both the Advisory Group for the Brazilian Accounting Standards for the Public Sector Accounting at Conselho Federal de Contabilidade and the Technical Committee linked to the National Treasury which is responsible for issuing mandatory standards for public sector entities in all federation levels (municipalities, states and central government).

Prof. Varela holds a master's and a doctor's degree in Controllership and Accounting from the University of São Paulo, and a postdoctoral degree in Public Administration and Government from the Getúlio Vargas Foundation in São Paulo.

The IPSASB held its fourth meeting of 2019 from December 10-13, 2019 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The Department of Finance of Abu Dhabi generously hosted the meeting.

The Public Interest Committee, the body that oversees the standard setting activities of the IPSASB, has launched a public survey on IPSASB governance arrangements. All interested stakeholders are encouraged to participate in this global consultation by February 24, 2020.

Revenue with Performance Obligations
The IPSASB approved ED 70, Revenue with Performance Obligations, and agreed on an exposure period of six months from the date of publication. ED 70 is based on IFRS 15, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, and has been expanded to apply to binding arrangements which are not necessarily contractual. ED 70 also has a broadened scope with a greater emphasis on the transfer of goods or services to third-party beneficiaries.

This ED, together with EDs 71and 72, is expected to be published at the end of February 2020. EDs 71 and 72 will have the same exposure period.

Please register on the IPSASB website to ensure that you receive updates when this document and EDs 71 and 72 (see below) are published: https://www.ifac.org/user/register

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Revenue Without Performance Obligations
The IPSASB approved ED 71, Revenue without Performance Obligations. ED 71 updates IPSAS 23, Revenue from Non-Exchange Transactions (Taxes and Transfers). It addresses revenue that arises from binding arrangements with present obligations which are not performance obligations, and revenue not related to binding arrangements. 

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Transfer Expenses
The IPSASB approved ED 72, Transfer Expenses. Transfer expenses are transactions where an entity transfers resources to another party without directly receiving anything in return.

The accounting for transfer expenses with performance obligations mirrors the accounting for revenue with performance obligations in ED 70. ED 72 does not mirror ED 71, however, as where there are no performance obligations it requires an expense to be recognized immediately. ED 72 does not address taxation.
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Leases
The IPSASB revisited the objective and scope of the Leases project and evaluated options for moving the project forward against specified criteria. The IPSASB will continue its work on refining the criteria to analyze options and intends to decide on the approach in March 2020.

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Improvements
The IPSASB discussed the responses to ED 68, Improvements to IPSAS, 2019. The IPSASB approved the amendments proposed in ED 68 with no significant changes. The IPSASB also agreed to an effective date of January 1, 2021 for these improvements, except for improvements related to IPSAS 41, Financial Instruments, which will have an effective date of January 1, 2022 to align with the effective date of that standard.

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Measurement
The IPSASB carried out a preliminary review of responses to the Consultation Paper, Measurement.  A number of the issues were raised by respondents related to fair value, including:

• The meaning of fair value in existing IPSAS;
• The interaction of fair value with market value;
• The appropriateness of highest and best use in the public sector; and
• Inconsistency between replacement cost as a measurement basis and a measurement technique to estimate fair value.

The IPSASB also discussed its preliminary view to expense borrowing costs, rather than capitalizing them, noting respondents were split in their views. The IPSASB instructed staff to bring a recommendation forward for its consideration in March 2020.
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Infrastructure Assets
The IPSASB approved the flowchart  for determining whether additional guidance is needed and, if so, whether it should be authoritative or non-authoritative. The flowchart was tested by analyzing issues related to the separation of land under or over infrastructure assets, the control of such land and valuation. The IPSASB instructed staff to revise the draft additional guidance, so that it addresses all the financial reporting issues impacting the accounting for land under or over infrastructure assets. The revised draft guidance will be considered at the March 2020 meeting. 

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Meeting Podcast
A podcast highlighting key points of the December 2019 meeting is now available here.

Next Meeting
The next meeting of the IPSASB will be in New York from March 10-13, 2020. For more information, or to register as an observer, visit the IPSASB website.

Highlights from the IPSASB CAG December 2019 meeting in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates: 

00:11     Welcome and introduction: John Stanford, IPSASB Technical Director
01:05     Chair’s summary of the IPSASB CAG meeting: Thomas Müller-Marqués Berger, IPSASB CAG Chair
14:12     Closing remarks: John Stanford, IPSASB Technical Director

Highlights from the IPSASB December 2019 meeting in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates:

00:10     Welcome and introduction: John Stanford, Technical Director
01:02     Chair’s meeting overview: Ian Carruthers, IPSASB Chair
03:02     Revenue with Performance Obligations: Edwin Ng, Principal
04:04     Revenue without Performance Obligations: Joanna Spencer, Manager
04:56     Transfer Expenses: Paul Mason, Senior Advisor
06:06     Leases: João Carlos Fonseca, Principal
06:52     Measurement: Dave Warren, Principal
09:46     Chair’s concluding comments: Ian Carruthers, IPSASB Chair
12:54     Closing remarks: John Stanford, Technical Director

The Public Interest Committee, the body that oversees the standard setting activities of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB), today launches a public Survey on IPSASB governance arrangements which were implemented in accordance with the 2015 Recommendations of the IPSASB Governance Review Group. All interested stakeholders are encouraged to participate in this global consultation.

Established in 2015, the Public Interest Committee reviews the standard-setting activities of the IPSASB to ensure appropriate due process and that the Board’s activities reflect the public interest. Since its formation, the Committee has actively provided advice and recommendations concerning the development of the IPSASB strategy and work program, the appointment process for members of the IPSASB, and IPSASB standard-setting due process. 

Stakeholder feedback through the survey will be an important source of input for the Public Interest Committee in carrying out the review of the current oversight arrangements of the IPSASB.

Responses to the Survey on IPSASB governance arrangements are invited by February 24, 2020.

The 2nd IPSASB Research Forum, hosted by the Comparative International Governmental Accounting Research (CIGAR) network, in conjunction with the 2020 CIGAR Workshop, will be held on 17 June 2020 in Oslo-Drammen, Norway. Ahead of the event, the IPSASB is pleased to offer research grants of USD 1,500 for research under each of the following topics:

• The Presentation of Financial Statements in the Public Sector;
• Differential Reporting (Financial Reporting for Small and Medium Sized Public Sector Entities);
• Discount Rates in the Public Sector: Rationale for their Use and Determination; and
• Disclosures of Tax Expenditures.

The first IPSASB Research Forum was on 17 September 2019 in Naples, Italy. With more than 80 participants from academia and standard-setting bodies, the Research Forum discussed linkages between academia and the standard-setting process and current and committed projects on the IPSASB’s work program. The 2nd Research Forum aims to take forward the dialogue established between academia and the IPSASB. 

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) held its first Research Forum on 17 September 2019 in Naples, Italy. More than 80 participants, from academia and standard-setting bodies discussed linkages between academia and the standard-setting process and current and committed projects on the IPSASB’s work program. One of the key points identified was the scope for academia to provide research input to potential IPSASB projects.