On 23 December 2014, the Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) announced it had approved a new standard, AASB 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers, that addresses the financial reporting of revenue and cash flows arising from an entity’s contracts with customers. The new standard establishes principles, and includes disclosure requirements, for reporting information about the nature, amount, timing and uncertainty of revenue and cash flows arising from contracts with customers, based on the international financial reporting standard IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers. IFRS 15 addressed concerns by users of financial statements that existing revenue standards have led to inconsistencies between entities’ reported revenues, principally in relation to when an entity recognises revenue under some long term contracts (e.g.
Published Impact Analyses
Official website for Published Impact Analyses for decisions announced by the Australian Government, Ministerial Forums and National Standard Setting Bodies.
On 23 December 2014, the Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) announced it had approved a new standard for accounting for financial instruments, AASB 9 Financial Instruments, to supersede earlier versions of AASB 9 issued in December 2009 and December 2010. The new standard incorporates the international financial reporting standard IFRS 9 Financial Instruments issued in July 2014, which made changes in relation to:
On 14 October 2014, the Minister for Industry and the Prime Minister jointly announced the Industry Innovation and Competitiveness Agenda. The report includes a proposal to improve taxation arrangements for Employee Share Schemes. The proposal considers changing the taxation point for options in employee share schemes and allowing start-ups to offer options and shares at a small discount that will generally be exempt from up-front taxation. These changes intend to increase the number of employees participating in Employee Share Schemes. The proposal has been assessed by the Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR) as likely to have a measurable but contained impact on the economy with no impacts on competition. A Regulation Impact Statement has been prepared by the Treasury for consultation. Consultations on this RIS are now open and will close on 6 February 2015.
On 17 April 2014, the Government published an advance release of the Building and Construction Industry (Fair and Lawful Building Sites) Code 2014 (‘the Building Code’). On 28 November 2014 it published a further advance release. The Building Code sets out the standard of workplace relations conduct expected from those contractors that want to perform work funded by the Commonwealth Government. Among other provisions, the Code prohibits the inclusion of clauses in enterprise agreements that:
On 26 August 2014, the Trade and Investment Minister signed the First Protocol with Ministers from the eleven other parties to the agreement, at the ASEAN Economic Ministers – Closer Economic Relations Trade Ministers Meeting in Burma. The First Protocol amends the Agreement establishing the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA) to remove regulatory impediments that have been identified as hindering business use of the Agreement, it will reduce the information requirements imposed on business when completing certificates of origin, simplify the presentation of the Agreement's Rules of Origin, and provide for the use of HS 2012 nomenclature. The change is expected to reduce compliance costs for Australian businesses making use of AANZFTA to import or export goods, and will not introduce any new requirements or administrative burdens on business, with any initial transitional costs expected to be minimal.
On 16 December 2014, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) released a consultation Regulation Impact Statement for the risk management of hydrocyanic acid in apricot kernels and other foods. Consumption of raw apricot kernels poses an acute public health and safety risk for consumers due to the risk of cyanide poisoning (from the release of hydrocyanic acid) which can lead to death. The Consultation RIS examines whether measures can be put in place to manage future potential public health and safety issues. The consultation RIS considers five options for addressing the problem, ranging from maintaining the status quo, though to labelling options, and banning the sale of some raw apricot kernels. FSANZ undertook targeted consultation with industry and food enforcement agencies in 2012 and 2013.
On 14 October 2014, the Prime Minister and the Minister for Industry jointly announced the Industry Innovation and Competitiveness Agenda. The Agenda seeks to strengthen Australia's competitiveness, targeting job creation and higher living standards. One of the initiatives to be implemented over the next 18 months is the adoption of international standards and risk assessments for certain products. Building on the Government's deregulation agenda, the proposal seeks that regulators should not impose additional requirements beyond those already applied under trusted international regulation, unless it can be demonstrated there is good reason to do so. The proposal requires departments and agencies to review existing regulation against this principle.
On 11 September 2014, the Minister for Industry announced that the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) will expand the delegation for registered training providers (RTOs) to make decisions about changing the scope of their registration. The new approach will reduce red tape for highly compliant RTOs, by addressing the need for training providers to seek approval from ASQA before they offer new courses or make changes to the courses they are already delivering. This will be achieved through ASQA inviting the most highly compliant RTOs to receive a delegation, under section 226 of the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Act 2011, which will enable them to manage their own scope without the need to apply to ASQA for changes. There will be no legislative changes to the NVETR Act or associated standards.
On 29 October 2014, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) approved a variation to the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (the Code) to provide for maximum levels (ML) for tutin in honey and comb honey. Tutin is a plant-derived neurotoxin, which can sometimes be present in honey produced in parts of New Zealand. Following a severe poisoning incident in New Zealand in 2008 temporary MLs for tutin in honey and comb honey (of 2 mg/kg and 0.1 mg/kg, respectively) were adopted into the Code while further research and evaluation was conducted. The temporary MLs were due to expire on 31 March 2015. The variation to the Code reduces to 0.7 mg/kg and makes permanent the ML of tutin in honey. This ML is based on scientific research that indicates that some people may have adverse reactions to tutin even at levels below the current temporary MLs.
On 27 April 2011, the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) announced changes to existing management arrangements in the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery, aimed at providing stronger protection for Australian Sea Lions. These changes included additional closures of fishing areas and new monitoring arrangements. A regulation impact statement (RIS) - assessed as adequate by the Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR) - was required to inform the decision to change the management arrangements.