The Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) released for comment ED 157 "Joint Arrangements", the Australian equivalent of ED 9 of the same title issued by the IASB in September.  
 
ED 157 (the Australian version of IASB ED 9 of the same name) proposes some significant changes to AASB131/IAS 31 “Interests in Joint Ventures”, in order to address some important deficiencies that have been identified in the quality of financial reporting for these types of arrangements. The ED is part of the ongoing IASB/FASB convergence project.  
 
The Institute is concerned that the proposals in this ED will not necessarily improve the quality of joint venture reporting in the short term and will not achieve convergence with US GAAP across all entities. The proposals to remove proportionate consolidation for joint ventures, as defined, appear to be a 'quick fix' and given the theoretical flaws with equity accounting, being the alternative accounting model proposed, we consider that a complete review of the standard is required. The Institute did support the additional disclosures proposed in the ED. 
 
Comments closed 30 November 2007 in order for the AASB to meet the IASB comment deadline of 11 January 2008.  
 
View our final submission here. 
 
This article is current up to 5 December 2007