Contribution of Asian Oceanian Region in Setting of Standards

Governance and Strategic Mandate of AOSSG

The activities of AOSSG are managed by Chair with the assistance of the Chair’s Advisory Committee (CAC). Currently, the CAC of AOSSG comprises of 9 member jurisdictions viz. Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Sri Lanka and is responsible for supporting the Chair and Vice-Chair in performing their functions.

The AO Region consists of both advanced as well as emerging economies which are at the various stages of development. The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) issued by - The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) of IFRS Foundation London are increasingly accepted in this region for Public Interest Entities. Many AO jurisdictions have either adopted IFRSs or are considering adoption of IFRSs or making progress towards convergence with the IFRSs. Given the growing economic importance of the AO region, the stakeholders have increasingly suggested that the Accounting Standard-Setters in the region should play a more prominent role in Global Standard-Setting, to maintain the momentum towards global standards and support the credibility and responsiveness of the IASB.

The Group has defined its objectives and works towards achieving them in coordination with its members. The activities undertaken by the Group in achieving its objectives include:

Six Core Operational Dimensions of AOSSG

(1) Submitting Regional Views to the IASB and the IFRS Foundation

The AOSSG communicates primarily with the IASB. It also communicates with the IFRS Interpretations Committee, IFRS Foundation Trustees, IFRS Advisory Council and IFRS Foundation Monitoring Board. The AOSSG meets the Board members and officials of IASB face-to-face formally once a year and informally at least twice a year to discuss AOSSG‘s views in relation to IASB technical and other activities, as well as AOSSG initiatives.

AOSSG has also been a nominated member of the Accounting Standards Advisory Forum (ASAF) and is represented by the Chair, AOSSG for the quarterly meetings held in London.

While commenting on IASB documents, AOSSG‘s views reflect the collective views AOSSG members without interfering with the authority of member standard-setters regarding whether and how to apply the standards proposed or published by the IASB. If AOSSG members holds differing views, those differing views are reflected within AOSSG comment letters. Individual member standard-setters may also choose to make separate submissions from their jurisdiction that are consistent or otherwise with aspects of the AOSSG comments. The intention of the AOSSG is to enhance the input to the IASB from the AO region and not to prevent the IASB from receiving the variety of views that individual member standard-setters may hold.

In 2019, the Group submitted its comments on the IASB’s Exposure Draft:

Previously, AOSSG, has submitted similar comments to the various comment letters and ED and Discussion Papers (DPs) issued by the IASB.

(2) Sharing Knowledge and Information

The member jurisdictions are at different levels of IFRS implementation – some jurisdictions have already adopted or converged IFRSs, while others are in the process of adopting or converging with IFRSs. The educational activities involve members building standard-setting capacity through sharing knowledge and experiences, including through jurisdictions with particular expertise assisting other jurisdictions. Many member jurisdictions have also undertaken Mentoring Programme in which mentor provides exposure of Global Financial Reporting, thereby guiding them in achieving their objective of implementing IFRSs in their jurisdiction. The mentors have also undertaken various workshops and other knowledge building sessions thereby helping the jurisdictions.

(3) Research Activities

The WGs of AOSSG take proactive steps to undertake research and publish its findings. The AOSSG believes that this publication is a model for its future activities and plans that more research activities be undertaken in this proactive manner. In selecting research topics, the AOSSG is mindful of the IASB‘s needs and the needs of AOSSG members. Few projects have been highlighted as follows:

(4) Communicating with the Stakeholders

The AOSSG encourages members to build relationships with their jurisdictional stakeholders. The AOSSG and its members communicate with such parties by a number of means including sharing challenges and experiences at the IFRS Regional Policy Forum. Such communications and collaborative undertakings are particularly important, since standard-setting processes often involve legal or regulatory due-process before standards are endorsed, while regulators usually turn to the expertise of standard-setters on technical accounting matters.

(5) AOSSG’s Participation in Accounting Standards Advisory Forum (ASAF)

The objective of ASAF is to provide an advisory forum in which members can constructively contribute towards the achievement of the IASB’s goal of developing globally accepted high-quality accounting standards. More particularly, ASAF was established to:

The IASB initiates agenda consultation for its ASAF members to help IASB identify and develop a description of the potential projects for IASB’s future work plan for comment by stakeholders. Recently, IASB initiated the “2020 Agenda Consultation Project” requesting ASAF members to share the potential projects. AOSSG being an active member at the ASAF has also shared a list of items for the 2020 Agenda Consultation Project.

(6) Meeting with the Trustees of the IFRS Foundation

Starting 2017, the CAC of AOSSG was invited to meet the Trustees of IFRS Foundation so as to achieve the common objective of application of single-set of high-quality financial standards across the AO region.

The first meeting of the CAC and the Trustees was held in Tokyo, Japan in May 2017, followed in 2018 in Hong Kong and in 2019 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The AOSSG appreciates the work of the IASB and the Foundation Trustees. The AOSSG will continue to work together with the IFRS Foundation for pursuing the common goals as can be described below:

Current Member Organisations – AOSSG (27 Jurisdictions)

Conclusion: A Driving Wind for IFRS

While concluding, it is important to mention that the AOSSG is organised under the motto of “A Driving Wind for IFRS” and has committed itself to the global financial reporting standard setting. The contribution from AO region to global accounting standard setting has gained greater significance as this region is now widely recognised as the “engine of the world economy.” The AOSSG will continue to pursue various activities to achieve its objectives, thereby taking greater responsibility for global standard setting.