It’s not over until it’s over!
Those outside of the United States may not recognize the quote usually attributed to the baseball player Yogi Berra. Usually, this saying appears in the sports context to articulate the principle that something might happen, even if last minute or otherwise improbable, that might change the outcome of the game. This is somewhat true recently with the IFRS and their proposal with IFRS for SMEs. WOCCU has long advocated for clear authority to allow national level credit union regulators to utilize this standard for implementing IFRS 9 or CECL (in the United States) for credit unions. During the review process, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) initially declined to review the scope, which meant any possibility of changing the scope to allow for clarification of the use by credit unions was nearly impossible.
WOCCU went to work making numerous comments, attended several meetings and conferences pushing the issue. At the last minute, with the release of the IFRS proposals to update the IFRS for SMEs Accounting Standard, the door was opened with some proposed revisions that would clarify the ability to use the standard for credit unions, despite the Board’s direction to not consider changes to the scope. Indeed, the game is not over. It will take some time to reach finalization of this standard and changes may still come. However, what seemed like a long shot, now looks like reason for optimism.
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