On December 11-12, 2014 Askold Birin, the Chairman of National Accounting Standards Board (NASB) of the NOFA Foundation participated as a member of the Russian delegation in the eighth meeting of the IASB Emerging Economies Group in Jakarta (Indonesia). Attendees included delegates from China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, South Africa, members of the IASB and the Chairman of IFRS Interpretations Committee.

Accounting in the extractive industries became the main topic of the meeting of the Group. The Group had a productive discussion on the appropriateness of adoption of a special international standard on the matter, influence of the industry specifics on financial statements and the significance of such influence, a problem of uncertainty of future economic benefits at a stage of exploration and evaluation of mineral resources. Participants of the meeting shared experience of application of IFRS 6 "Exploration for and Evaluation of Mineral Resources" in the countries presented in Group and expressed concern in excessively ample opportunities for the extractive companies to choose accounting policies. Special attention was paid to problems of initial and subsequent evaluation of prospecting assets, in particular, to structure of the expenses included in their prime cost, to their revaluation and depreciation, applicability concerning these assets of the general approaches to the accounting of fixed assets and intangible assets.

The attendees exchanged information and opinions with regard to the accounting of non-financial assets which are not a subject of specific IFRSs (advance payments issued, deposits against bank guarantees to the supplier, long-term materials, etc.) and foreign currency convertible bonds. Materials for discussion of non-financial assets were prepared by the NOFA Foundation and presented to participants of the meeting by the Russian delegation. A representative of the IASB informed on the status of work on draft new documents of the international standards. Agenda papers can be found on the official Internet site of the IASB.

The meeting outcome is a valuable reference for the IASB in setting its future agenda. The next meeting of the Group is planned for 2015.