OSC Staff Urges Companies To Provide Better IFRS Disclosure

Staff of the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) recently conducted a review of the quality of public companies' disclosures in their MD&A (management's discussion and analysis) about the impact of the upcoming transition to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). In Staff Notice 52-718 (http://tinyurl.com/ya9mpdr), IFRS Transition Disclosure Review, staff expressed concern that many issuers' IFRS-related disclosures in MD&A during 2009 failed to provide investors with meaningful information about the issuer's preparedness for the transition and its expected impact.

Overall Findings

Of the 106 issuers reviewed, staff found that 40% provided no IFRS-related disclosure, and of the 60% that did, approximately half provided generic rather than issuer-specific information. In light of these inadequacies, staff stated that it will conduct further reviews of IFRS-related disclosures during 2010. Issuers that fail to provide adequate disclosure may be requested