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SINGAPORE : Parliament has passed a bill to set up the Accounting Standards Council.
This replaces the Council on Corporate Disclosure and Governance in issuing accounting standards that apply to both corporate and non-corporate organisations.
In addition, there will be a separate set of accounting standards for charities.
When moving the second reading of the Accounting Standards Bill, Minister of State for Finance Lim Hwee Hua on Monday explained that the Accounting Standards Council will draw up standards that are customised to the circumstances of these non-corporate entities.
This will help them provide a clearer link between their objectives, activities and results to their stakeholders.
Ms Lim noted, "Currently a charitable organisation may be set up as a company, a society or a trust, before registering with the Commissioner of Charities as a charity. In future, a charity, regardless of the legal vehicle it uses, will have to comply exclusively with the accounting standards for charities.
"This is in line with the policy objective, of having accounting standards which are more appropriate and relevant to the purpose of the entity it's set up to pursue. This practice of having a separate set of accounting practices is consistent with the practice in the UK."
More changes are also in the pipeline for the charity sector.
Ms Lim said, "The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports would in the meantime, conduct a holistic review of the Charities Act. Hence the necessary consequential amendments to the Charities Act to make it mandatory for all charities to comply with the charities' accounting standards would be moved in Parliament at a later date."
The Accounting Standards Council will be responsible only for the issuing and promulgation of accounting standards.
The monitoring and enforcement of compliance with the accounting standards will remain the prerogative of the respective regulators.
And these are the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) for companies, the Commissioner of Charities for charities, the Registrar of Cooperatives for cooperatives, and the Registrar of Societies for societies. - CNA/ms
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