IASB July 2008

The project on financial instruments with characteristics of equity is a modified joint project on which the FASB took the lead for the research stage. The IASB added this project to its active agenda at this meeting (see agenda proposals). In November 2007 the FASB published a Preliminary Views document Financial Instruments with Characteristics of Equity. In February 2008 the IASB published a discussion paper that contained an IASB Invitation to Comment and the FASB document.

Independently of the IASB and the FASB, task forces from the PAAinE (Proactive Accounting Activities in Europe) initiative of the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) and the German Accounting Standards Board developed an approach for distinguishing between liabilities and equity. At this meeting, representatives from both task forces updated the IASB about their approach. Details of their approach are in the discussion paper Distinguishing Between Liabilities and Equity, which EFRAG published in January 2008. No decisions were made