The new set of accounting standards, popularly termed IND AS, will become a reality from April 1, 2016 and there are no plans to make them optional, Amarjit Chopra, Chairman of the National Advisory Committee on Accounting Standards (NACAS) has said.
There is no question of NACAS recommending any proposal to make these IND AS standards “optional”, Chopra told BusinessLine on the sidelines of a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) event here.
This would mean that IND AS implementation will be mandatory as per the roadmap already prescribed by the Corporate Affairs Ministry.
Chopra’s remarks are significant as there are views in certain sections of industry that mandating IND AS implementation from April 1, 2016 may not be desirable, especially when the country was coming out of an economic slump.’
Under the roadmap announced by the Corporate Affairs Ministry, companies with networth in excess of ₹500 crore would have to implement IND AS from April 1, 2015.
The first reporting for such companies would be for the year ended March 31, 2017, and comparative information for the year ended March 31, 2016.
Chopra also felt it would be desirable if the IND AS implementation date was the same for both banks and insurance companies.
There is still no clarity as yet on when IND AS would become mandatory for banks and insurance companies. These two forms of entities are not covered under the roadmap currently prescribed by the Corporate Affairs Ministry.
For banks, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) would have to specify the IND AS implementation date. In the case of insurance companies, it is for the IRDA to specify the implementation date.
"Several banks have promoted insurance companies. It would not be right if both have different implementation dates for IND AS", Chopra said