CSA Staff Notice 33-313 - International Financial Reporting Standards and Registrants
CSA Staff Notice 33-313 was published on September 12, 2008 and details the impact of the changeover to IFRS for registrants that are not members of an SRO (non-SRO registrants).
Under the current plans of the Canadian Accounting Standards Board (the AcSB), IFRS will replace Canadian GAAP effective January 1, 2011 for publicly accountable enterprises (PAEs). While many registrants are considered PAEs and will have to move to IFRS according to the AcSB’s implementation plan, others, mainly non-SRO registrants, do not fall under the definition of PAE and are technically not covered by the AcSBs implementation plan. These include investment counsel and portfolio managers, limited market dealers, exchange-contracts dealers, scholarship plan dealers and, if amendments to the registration regime are adopted under proposed NI 31-103, will also include new categories of exempt market dealers and investment fund managers.
For all of these registrants, the Staff Notice identifies that if they hold or have access to any client assets, the CSA will expect them to comply with IFRS, which includes preparing both financial statements and working capital calculations in accordance with IFRS as opposed to Canadian GAAP. The Staff Notice also cautions that the move from Canadian GAPP to IFRS may also affect certain business functions, thus, planning for the changeover should be started soon, if not already underway. For those who do not hold or have access to any client assets, the CSA are still reviewing whether they should be mandated to use IFRS, and if so, what the appropriate implementation date should be for such a change.
