Category Archives: Financial Instruments

Share-based payments – a piece of the action

Posted on May 16, 2012 by admin

by John Hughes The CICA’s IFRS Discussion Group recently considered an interesting and fairly frequent issue, described in the following terms: “When an entity issues share purchase warrants or other forms of debt or equity securities in a public or … Continue reading →

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Impairment of available-for-sale securities: what d’you mean it’s temporary?

Posted on May 10, 2012 by admin

by John Hughes Reitmans (Canada) Limited illustrates another of the many differences between IFRS and Canadian GAAP in the area of financial instruments: Has there ever been a more arbitrary accounting creation than the cookbook of rules for instruments classified … Continue reading →

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Cash and cash equivalents – more complex than we knew!

Posted on March 29, 2012 by admin

by John Hughes Today’s issue isn’t very important in the great scheme of things (even the IFRS-defined great scheme of things) but it seems to say something about the exhausting weight of the financial reporting structure we’ve built for ourselves. … Continue reading →

Posted in Cash and cash equivalents, Financial Instruments, IFRS | 1 Comment

IFRS 13 – early thoughts for smaller companies

Posted on December 12, 2011 by admin

by John Hughes Because the effective date of IFRS 13 Fair value measurement is still over a year away, it’s easy not to worry too much about it, particularly for smaller companies: fair value often isn’t a very prominent concept … Continue reading →

Posted in Fair Value, Financial Instruments, IFRS | 1 Comment

Financial guarantees – a case of special treatment

Posted on December 6, 2011 by admin

by John Hughes Northland Capital Corporation provides an example of an IFRS-Canadian GAAP difference you don’t run into that often, at least outside the financial institution sector: The Grange is an equity-accounted investment, in which Northland has a 47% ownership interest. … Continue reading →

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More twists and turns of embedded derivatives

Posted on August 2, 2011 by admin

by John Hughes I remember reading an article a few years ago criticizing a New York Times book reviewer for writing about a disproportionate number of short books. With that in mind, and wary of being accused of compiling a blog that … Continue reading →

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Embedded derivatives…even more fun under IFRS!

Posted on July 21, 2011 by admin

by John Hughes I’ve written a bit in the past about how items analyzed as equity under Canadian GAAP are sometimes analyzed as financial liabilities under IFRS. Kinross Gold Corporation provides another example: According to the Kinross statements, the convertible notes are convertible … Continue reading →

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Renegotiating liabilities – a matter of substantial differences…

Posted on June 17, 2011 by admin

by John Hughes Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund focuses on an issue that hasn’t come up in too many disclosures: As far as I can tell, the difference flows from a greater focus on conceptual substance rather than from a specific … Continue reading →

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Compound financial instruments: tightening the rules

Posted on April 30, 2011 by admin

by John Hughes Writing a while ago about Al Rosen’s latest utterances on IFRS, I quoted his description of  IFRS as a move to “loosen up all the rules.” It’s a little bizarre to me that such claims still get any traction, … Continue reading →

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Financial instruments, and other related party adventures

Posted on September 20, 2010 by admin

by John Hughes Baja Mining Corp describes a difference between IFRS and Canadian GAAP that doesn’t come up too often: This is how it describes the existing difference between Canadian and US GAAP: This is another example of what I’ve … Continue reading →

Posted in Fair Value, Financial Instruments, IFRS, Related Party Disclosures | Leave a comment