At their monthly joint meeting in January, the FASB and IASB discussed whether they could reduce the differences between their respective models for the classification and measurement of financial instruments. The boards ultimately decided to jointly re-deliberate selected aspects of their models, including:

• The contractual cash flow characteristics of an instrument;
• The need for bifurcation of financial assets and, if pursued, the basis for bifurcation;
• The basis for and scope of a possible third classification category (debt instruments measured at fair value through one comprehensive income); and,
• Any knock-on effects from the above (e.g., disclosures or the model for financial liabilities in light of the financial asset decisions).

The IASB has just published its complete January 2012 Update, which summarizes all the discussions at the boards’ joint meeting as well as the IASB’s most recent sessions on the effective dates of IFRS 10, 11, and 12, the current feedback on IFRS 1, and other topics.