Appendix B (AASB1053_06-10_COMPmar21_07-21)

This appendix is an integral part of AASB 1053.

Public accountability is defined in Appendix A. The notion of public accountability is consistent with the notion adopted by the IASB in its International Financial Reporting Standard for Small and Medium-sized Entities (IFRS for SMEs). It is different from the notion of public accountability in the general sense of the term that is often employed in relation to not-for-profit, including public sector, entities.

The following for-profit entities are deemed to have public accountability:

(a) disclosing entities, even if their debt or equity instruments are not traded in a public market or are not in the process of being issued for trading in a public market;

(b) co-operatives that issue debentures;

(c) registered managed investment schemes;

(d) superannuation plans regulated by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) other than Small APRA Funds as defined by APRA Superannuation Circular No. III.E.1 Regulation of Small APRA Funds, December 2000; and

(e) authorised deposit-taking institutions.

Some entities may also hold assets in a fiduciary capacity for a broad group of outsiders because they hold and manage financial resources entrusted to them by clients, customers or members not involved in the management of the entity. However, if they do so for reasons incidental to a primary business (as, for example, may be the case for travel or real estate agents, schools, charitable organisations, co-operative enterprises requiring a nominal membership deposit and sellers that receive payment in advance of delivery of the goods or services such as utility companies), that does not make them publicly accountable.

Examples of entities that hold assets in a fiduciary capacity for a broad group of outsiders as one of its primary businesses are most likely to include banks, credit unions, insurance companies, securities brokers/dealers, mutual funds and investment banks.