Ms Euleen Goh, Chairperson of the Accounting Standards Council (ASC), led a five-member Singapore delegation team to attend the inaugural meeting of the Asian-Oceanian Standard-Setters Group (AOSSG) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on 4 and 5 November 2009. The meeting was hosted by the Malaysian Accounting Standards Board (MASB). A total of 100 participants from twenty-one standard-setting bodies from Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Macao, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Oman, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Uzbekistan attended the meeting. Also present were Sir David Tweedie, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) Chairman, four other IASB Board members, the IASB Director of International Activities and a Trustee of the International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation (IASCF).
2 The idea of forming the AOSSG was discussed in Beijing, the People’s Republic of China in April 2009 where twelve standard-setters (including the ASC) in the region met in a preparatory meeting and agreed to promote the group by the participation of all countries or jurisdictions in the Asian-Oceanian region.
3 Besides appointing Malaysia as the first Chair of the AOSSG and Japan as the Vice Chair, the AOSSG members adopted a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which formalises its establishment. The MOU sets out the four objectives of the AOSSG, namely:
- Promoting the adoption of, and convergence with, International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) by jurisdictions in the region;
- Promoting consistent application of IFRSs by jurisdictions in the region;
- Coordinating inputs from the region relating to the technical activities of the IASB; and
- Cooperating with governments and regulators, and other regional and international organisations to improve the quality of financial reporting in the region.
4 The AOSSG members also adopted the Modus Operandi of the Working Groups (WG). The Modus Operandi sets out the process on how the AOSSG members will participate in and respond to the IASB’s proposed new standards, amendments to existing standards or any related issues.
5 The AOSSG members agreed that there is a need to play a more active role in the technical activities and other related matters of the IASB, given that many of them have adopted the IFRSs or have declared or intend to declare convergence with or adoption of the IFRSs in the near future.
6 Four technical issues relating to the IASB’s ongoing projects were discussed at the meeting. Singapore was the co-lead country for the Revenue Recognition WG discussion and a member of the Financial Instruments WG discussion. The other two technical issues discussed were Fair Value Measurement and Financial Statement Presentation.
7 The AOSSG members pledged to continue to participate actively in the ongoing discussions on the above four technical issues. They also tentatively agreed to add the following projects to the AOSSG work programmes – namely, Consolidation, Leases, Insurance Contracts, Emission Trading Schemes, and Financial Reporting relating to Islamic Finance.
8 The second meeting of the AOSSG will be hosted by the Accounting Standards Board of Japan (ASBJ) in Tokyo next year.
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