A meeting of the Accounting Standards Board (ASB) in attendance with Javaid Jahangir, the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) and his delegation held at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) here in Karachi. The meeting was attended by Riaz A. Rehman Chamdia President ICAP, Farrukh Rehman Chairman ASB, Jaffar Hussain Vice President of ICAP and other ASB members which included representatives of SECP, PSX, practice and industry, the Advisory Group and Task force members.

In the meeting, there was consensus that in the public interest there is scope of further improving the public sector financial reporting and to carry out a gap analysis of current accounting practices and study on the viability of implementing IPSAS in Pakistan. In this regard, the President ICAP and AGP agreed that there is need for further collaboration between the institutions, and the future partnership could be underpinned by consultation, coordination, cooperation and exchange of information.

The President ICAP emphasized the important role of the ICAP and AGP in country’s auditing and accounting landscape and the need for further collaboration and use of each other’s experiences and human resources for the betterment of public sector accounting practices and standards.

The participants discussed the need for making efforts in changing the public’s perception about the role of public sector accounting, more transparency and timely corrective action on the audit observations raised by the AGP.

Earlier, Javaid Jahangir was given a warm welcome on his first official visit to ICAP. He was briefed about the purpose of formation of multi-stakeholder ASB, the profile of its members and key initiatives undertaken by the board in last one year. It was noted that since its formation in March 2017, the ASB in the short span has deliberated and recommended for the adoption of the new International Financial Reporting Standards – IFRS 9 Financial Instruments, IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts from Customers and IFRS 16 Leases and developed guidance and illustrative financial statements under the Companies Act 2017.

Further, the Board has responded to numerous accounting queries addressing the concerns of different stakeholders, including regulators. Moreover, ASB is also actively working on the other significant initiatives that include XBRL, advocacy of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) and IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts.

The ASB members, ASB Chairman and President ICAP thanked AGP for coming over to Karachi and participating in the board’s meeting.

Javaid Jahangir welcomed the opportunity of meeting of ASB, ICAP and AGP. He informed that the constitution of Pakistan gives the sole mandate to AGP for setting the framework of preparing the accounts and auditing them for district, provincial and the federal government. However, in 2001 the accounting function was transferred to the Controller General of Pakistan (CGA).

He further explained that AGP follows a strict time regime and annually issues the federal and provincial governments financial statements. He apprised that the CGA has a robust recording and reporting system based on the ERP SAP. AGP informed that he has trained and skilled workforce of more than 3500 people to carry out his constitutional mandate. A detailed presentation was given by the CGA representative on the government accounting system.

All the ASB members appreciated the role of AGP as country’s supreme audit institution under the constitution of Pakistan and the significant steps taken and milestones achieved by AGP over the period.