By educating yourself early, you can hit the ground running, and be in the best position to serve clients old and new over the coming 12 months.
We asked Aletta Boshoff, Advisory Partner and National Leader of IFRS & Corporate Reporting, and National Leader of Sustainability, at BDO Australia, for her best tips.
She delved into more detail at Stay Ahead of the Curve: Financial Reporting 2025, our online webinar held on 18 July.
Aletta Boshoff, Advisory Partner and National Leader of IFRS & Corporate Reporting, National Leader of Sustainability at BDO Australia
The latest from ASIC
“ASIC comes out with its focus areas every year, which they publish in May,” says Boshoff.
For FY25, ASIC has identified four key issues: asset values, provisions, subsequent events and disclosures.
“In recent media releases, [ASIC] also highlighted additional items, including the requirement that public companies publish consolidated entity disclosure statements, which is a big thing, and the requirement that registrable superannuation entities lodge audited financial statements.”
Over the past 12 months, media releases concerning ASIC’s enforcement activity have covered cases in which an investment management company was penalised for greenwashing and a mining company was fined $100,000 for failing to issue five annual financial reports – among many others.
ASIC also revealed that, between 1 January and 30 June 2023, it prosecuted 36 companies for failing to lodge financial reports, failing to hold annual general meetings and failing to maintain the required number of directors.
Hot topics in accounting
“There’s a lot going on at the moment,” says Boshoff.
“For example, we’ve got a lot of political uncertainty, with unrest in the Middle East and Ukraine – if you have subsidiaries in those places or transact with them in any way, then this could impact your accounting.”
Other external factors accountants should be aware of range from inflation, high interest rates and volatile exchange rates, to increasing energy prices and worsening supply shortages.
During the webinar, Boshoff explored:
- Pointers for dealing with lease accounting
- Accounting for cryptocurrencies
- Applying the correct methods for impairment testing where CGU contains ROU assets.
The impact of sustainability reporting
One of the biggest developments for accountants in FY25 will be the introduction of mandatory climate reporting.
To begin with, the scheme will apply to big businesses only. However, SMEs that work with big businesses may be pressured to report voluntarily. This is because, when reporting on scope 3 emissions, big businesses must report on their entire value chain.
“We recommend that accountants start working on sustainability reporting now,” says Boshoff.
“They shouldn’t simply ignore it and wait for the legislation. SMEs should think of sustainability reporting as a strategic imperative, which may impact their access to capital, access to markets and access to people.”
New accounting standards
Several standards will come into play for the first time in FY25.
“For example, there’s a recent change concerning how to classify current versus non-current liabilities, which will become effective on December 31, and will require you to make a comparative restatement,” said Boshoff.
Other changes in standards concern accounting standards for disclosure of accounting policies and definition of accounting estimates, deferred tax related to assets and liabilities in a single transaction, and international tax reform.
“Not all standards will affect everyone, but we’ll be flagging them to make sure they’re on your radar, so that you can consider them,” says Boshoff.
Recent IFRIC decisions
“The IFRS committee decided to issue guidance, rather than standards, which I’ll also look at,” says Boshoff.
Since May 2022, IFRIC has released a range of decisions, including those concerning climate-related commitments, merging parent and subsidiaries via separate financial statements, and payments contingent on continued employment during handover periods.
Aletta’s next seminar, Introduction to Sustainability Reporting, will be held virtually on 8 August.