Business

Thursday April 30, 2009

M’sian firms move closer to new accounting standard


KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian companies are getting closer to international accounting standard convergence, says International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) chairman Sir David Tweedie.

They should be ready to use the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by 2012, he said after a conference on international accounting standards organised by the Malaysian Accounting Standards Board yesterday.

The London-based IASB sets accounting rules under IFRS, which are used in about 100 countries.

“Malaysia is well ahead most of European countries, so it is in a good shape.

“By the time Malaysia changes, there will only be 50 to 60 countries that are not using this standard and they will have a difficult time attracting overseas investments,” Tweedie said.

Currently, about 113 countries used the IFRS and the number was expected to reach 150 by 2012, which would include China, India, Japan, South Korea and European countries, he said.

Tweedie said the US Securities and Exchange Commission would probably decide before 2011 on whether the United States would be committed to use IFRS in 2014.

Companies in the United States use the country’s Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).

Of the world’s top 500 companies, 194 used IFRS, 153 have adopted GAAP and the remainder used their national accounting standards.

Tweedie said he expected all the countries in the world to adopt IFRS by 2016.

PricewaterhouseCoopers joint executive chairman for South-East Asia Peninsula region, Johan Raslan, said a standardised global accounting system had many advantages.

“There will be more transparency and comparability among countries, (so) you can make comparison (directly),” he said.

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