|
The Institute for Ethics and Economic
Policy (IEEP) Fordham University is a renowned
Jesuit institution with a 165-year history of emphasis on ethics. |
|
||
|
THE ANTI-CORRUPTION BUREAU. PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE.
BRUNEI DARUSSALAM. Anti-Corruption Bureau Offices Head Office. ...
INTERNATIONAL
ACCOUNTING STANDARDS TO BE MADE
MANDATORY Brunei is making moves to tidy up its accounting and
auditing industry in an effort to make its financial climate more conducive
to international investors. This is crucial in order to make the country a
truly competitive International Offshore Financial Centre in the region. The
Brunei International Offshore Financial Centre (IOFC), as announced by His
Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei in his recent birthday
titah, is now in place and ready to do business. However, efforts to make the
Brunei IOFC more competitive if not better than Singapore, Labuan or Hong
Kong has yet to be realised as there are still many crucial elements
instrumental to the success of this venture that need to be addressed
urgently. Among them is the accounting and auditing practices, the important
structure in the financial architecture of the country. This sector can be
described as rather under regulated and diverse in standards. This sector is
now being strengthened as Brunei strives to ensure it has a better financial
structure to sustain the competitiveness of its IOFC as well as its efforts
to ensure success in reforming its economy towards a more sustainable
development. Dato Paduka Awang Haji Selamat Munap, the Deputy Minister of
Finance, announced this yesterday at the launching ceremony to mark the start
of a two-day seminar on International Accounting Standards in the country. The
seminar is organised by BICPA, the Brunei Institute of Chartered Public
Accounting. "The international financial community is now pushing for a
new International Financial Architecture. Brunei Darussalam too, is playing
its part in pushing for a new international financial architecture.
"Among others, a strong accounting and auditing industry forms part of
this financial architecture. This in turn requires that the rules governing
the industry be made more standard, clearer and more transparent,"
observed Dato Selamat. He said Brunei is now moving towards this direction by
adopting the International Accounting Standard (IAS) as a common and
universal set of standard for accounting and auditing practices in the
country. IAS is now the standard to be used by all professional accountants
and auditors to prepare financial statements for companies. This will be made mandatory with effect
from January 1, 2002, said the deputy minister. Adopting the IAS standard is
crucial for Brunei in its efforts to make investment climate more conducive
to international investors. It can ease investors´ reservations when
investing in our local firms, said Dato Selamat. He further said that the
government would also review and amend a number of rules, regulations and
laws of Brunei Darussalam where applicable. This includes the Companies Act.
This will aid the smooth transition of enforcing the use of IAS in the
country, he added. He stressed that
it is also equally important to regulate the professional practitioners and
indicated that some kind of governing body is necessary to tackle this
matter. He said BICPA is an important organisation that could be transformed
into such a body. With regard to Brunei´s IOFC, Dato Selamat said such a
development would cater well to the high requirements for application of
internationally accepted standard of accounting and auditing of the banking,
insurance, trust, and commercial entities from the four corners of the world.
Touching on the Islamic elements of the Brunei IOFC, Dato Selamat said its
members would need to familiarise with the accounting, auditing and
governance standards for Islamic institutions as Islamic finance and commerce
will be one of the strengths and areas of concentration for our Financial
Centre Management. According to the deputy minister, IFC legislation for
Brunei is now completed and the audit and accounting requirements have been
drafted in broad terms. Dato Selamat in his speech urged accounting
professionals in the country to gear up to what he predicted as an eventual
significant increase in demand for auditing work in the country following the
establishment of Brunei IOFC. News Edge (Asia Intelligence Wire), August 8,
2000 http://www.e-topics.com/index.asp?layout=topic_story&UserID= |
|
||
|
Design:
Theo den Brinker |
Copyright:
Hrishikesh D. Vinod 2000 |
Last
Updated: |
|
