The ASC is empowered under the Accounting Standards Act to prescribe accounting standards for use by companies, charities, co-operative societies and societies.
The broad policy intention is to adopt the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). Convergence with international accounting standards would achieve greater transparency and comparability of financial information among companies and help lower compliance costs for companies investing in Singapore as well as local companies going overseas. However, while the ASC will track closely the introduction of new IFRS for possible adoption in Singapore, it will also take into account the local economic and business circumstances and context, as well as the entity to which the IFRS would apply to.
The ASC adopts a formal and rigorous process in prescribing Financial Reporting Standards (FRS) so as to ensure that the accounting standards prescribed are of a consistent high quality. The various sectors and stakeholder groups are all given adequate opportunities to express their views.
The ASC believes it is useful to maintain good communication with the IASB, through proactively surfacing views relating to local specific issues on the IASB’s projects for the IASB’s attention and consideration. These include participation at standard setters meetings, reviewing and commenting on relevant IASB’s research and improvement projects, and working with the IASB liaison representatives. The ASC also sees the benefit of collaborating with national standard setters in the region, such as through the Asia-Oceanian Standards-Setters Group (AOSSG).