The Centre-appointed core committee, dealing with the transition from the Indian Generally Accepted Accounting Practices (IGAAP) to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), is expected to come out with fresh guidelines for implementing the new standards by the end of this month.
Giving this information to media persons on the sidelines of a conference organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce here on Tuesday, Mr Jamil Khatri, Executive Director and Head, Accounting Advisory Services, KPMG, said that the new guidelines would clear the air over issues like what should be the timeline for calculating eligibility criteria for converging to the new standard, applicability of the norm for NBFCs and the like.
Mr Khatri is an advisor to the CFO’s sub-committee constituted by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and headed by Mr Mohan Das Pai of Infosys.
Based on the recommendations of the core group, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, on 22 January 2010, had laid down a phased approach for achieving convergence with IFRS. In the first phase, accounting standards will have to conform to IFRS from April 2011, along with companies in another 150 countries.
“The new guidelines would address a few unanswered questions relevant to the implementation phase,” Mr Khatri said. In case of NBFCs, the convergence to IFRS should be implemented at par with banking and insurance companies, expected in 2013, he pointed out. The eligibility criteria for convergence of a company to the new standard should be calculated as on March 2011, he said.
The new guideline would also clarify issues related to adoption of IFRS by entities listed in foreign countries like ADR, GDR and FCCBs, he added.
