Even as the Securities and Exchange Commission weighs the comments that were due this week on its proposed roadmap to International Financial Reporting Standards, IFRS could be on a convergence path of its own with Islamic accounting standards.
In addition to converging IFRS with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, the International Accounting Standards Board is also looking to extend the standards globally, claiming that about 113 different countries have either adopted IFRS or agreed to adopt the standards. Now the IASB is looking to the Middle East to adopt the standards. Board member Robert Garnett spoke at an IFRS breakfast briefing in Dubai about the standards and how they could converge with Islamic accounting standards.
We have to embrace all financial products so we will need to change our standards, he said, according to Emirates Business. He said that the IASB would need to meet with the Middle Eastern standard-setter, the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions, to have a better understanding of their concerns and how we can accommodate those with a revised IFRS. He sees only slight differences between the standards now and believes they can be reconciled with the help of professional judgment.
Garnett (pictured) also chairs the International Financial Reporting Committee and he plans to begin holding talks with the AAOIFI this year to try to work out the differences between IFRS and the Islamic standards.
