Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka PLC (MBSL) organised a seminar on “How to overcome practical issues in implementing IFRS for small, medium and large companies” was held at Earls Court, Cinnamon Lakeside, Colombo on Wednesday, 5 June 2013 from 4.00 pm to 6.30 pm. The guest speaker at the event was the renowned Manil Jayesinghe, Partner Ernst & Young. The areas elaborated upon consist of the common issues in implementing IFRS and solutions to overcome issues followed by the panel discussion. During the presentation, Jayesinghe elaborated what impacts the balance sheet due to the implementation of IFRS and areas which get affected, how to recognise and account each balance sheet items such as property plant and equipment, biological assets, investments (financial assets), trade receivables (provisioning), refundable deposits (fv), how to determine the useful lives of property plant and equipment and applicability of residual values. Further he focused upon areas such as revenue recognition issue arising from multi-element contracts, extended warranties, and discounts , how to categorise investments, classification of balances at initial measurement and identification of impairment. The globalisation of business and finance has led to successful mass adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in over 100 countries and even in Sri Lanka. With the adoption of the new standards, the entities are required to adopt a common language for financial reporting process which will bring more credibility to financial and performance reporting and help the Sri Lankan firms to adopt one single platform for reporting. The financial statements are written reports that quantitatively describe the financial health of a company. One worldwide platform for financial reporting will make it easier to compare the financial position of different companies from different industries in different countries to be understood and compared one another. New accounting standards are intended to make financial disclosures more transparent, accountable and will be a part of Sri Lanka’s ongoing efforts to link up with the world. However, the complexity of implementing a common language in accounting such as IFRS has always been a challenging task across nations with their varied cultural, political, and economic, management, legal, regulatory and social differences. Both the public and private sectors are increasingly recognising the benefit of having a commonly understood reporting framework supported by a globally accepted set of accounting standards. IFRS will cater this requirement while opening doors to foreign investments and business expansions. However, many implementers of IFRS face difficulties in understanding the ground reality as industries, systems and people differ considerably. Participants from and medium enterprises in the business community, Chief Executive Officers, Chief Financial Officers, Finance Managers, Compliance Officers, Risk Control Specialists, SAP Specialists, ERP Specialists, Analysts, Financial Accountants, Management Accountants, Staff of Audit Firms, Financial Advisory and Consultancy Firm staff, IFRS Implementation Teams, Accounting System Implementation Teams, Staff of Listed Companies, Banks and Insurance Companies and people with special interest in IFRS and SLFRS implementation participated in this interactive session and gained an overall understanding about the implementation of IFRS and clarified specific issues in implementing IFRS.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Jun 2013 03:34:04 +0000
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