Outcomes from sixth IFRS Regional Policy Forum

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02 Apr 2012

A communiqué has been released from the sixth IFRS Regional Policy Forum held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 26-27 March 2012.

The Malaysian Accounting Standards Board (“MASB”) hosted the forum, which is designed to be one of the key platforms in the Asian Oceanian region for stakeholders including regulators, to discuss IFRS related policy issues.

Representatives from 22 jurisdictions attended - Australia, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, China, Dubai, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Japan, Korea, Macao, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Singapore, South Africa, Syria, Thailand and Vietnam. Hans Hoogervorst (IASB Chairman), Ian Mackintosh (IASB Vice Chairman), Jeffrey Lucy, (IFRS Foundation Trustee), Charles Macek (IFRS Advisory Vice Chairman) and  three other IASB Board members also attended the Forum.

In a keynote address by Tan Sri Zarinah Anwar, Chairman, Securities Commission Malaysia, it was noted that the availability of resources is a key implementation challenge and requires regional and international cooperation to make available experts, financial assistance, build capacity and enhance education. The establishment of the Asian-Oceanian Standard-Setters Group (AOSSG) has been pivotal in facilitating such closer regional collaboration.   It is now also appropriate for IASB to bring Islamic finance into its agenda and ensure the development and implementation of  IFRS  accommodate the needs of this sector.

The Communiqué also includes discussion of:

  • A reaffirmed commitment to adoption of IFRS recognising that for some jurisdictions this is achieved via a process of converging.  It was also noted that full global and regional adoption will take time, especially as stakeholders try to cope with a rapid pace of change in IFRS
  • An expression of appreciation to the IASB for its efforts in conducting a thorough and comprehensive consultation on its future agenda
  • Participants agreed that in working towards a set of globally accepted accounting standards, regulators have to work together not only with IASB but also with their national standard setters and regional standard setting bodies to better align local policies with these international standards and to integrate the requirements of the standards into the
    domestic legal framework
  • It was also acknowledged that for IFRS to be accepted globally, the standards have to be endorsed, implemented, audited and enforced on a consistent basis.

The next meeting of the IFRS Regional Policy Forum is expected to be held in Hong Kong in 2013.

Click for access to the Communiqué (link to MASB website)

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