FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING & REPORTING IN MALAYSIA.

MATERIAL TYPE : BOOK
AQUISITION NO. : 11549

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PREFACE
The impetus to writing this book, entitled "Financial Accounting and Reporting in Malaysia" or FARM in short, started about five years ago in the course of my involvement with the Accounting and Auditing Standards Committees of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) and the Malaysian Association of Certified Public Accountants (MACPA). The increase in the accounting pronouncements in the last decade has prompted a need to bridge the gap between current thinking of the accountancy profession and the practitioners, preparers, accountancy students and other users. A book that focuses on local accounting principles and practices was felt necessary to guide users on the preparation and presentation of financial statements that are in confommity with the accounting pronouncements.


Initially, the drafting progressed slowly mainly because there was no urgency to complete the book. However, in the more recent years, the need for the book became more apparent because there have been a number of significant changes in the accounting principles and practices, both internationally and locally. In the international scene, the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) has revised practically all the old lASs and issued revised lASs for operations by member bodies. Also, attention has shifted from the debacles of the goodwill and intangible asset accounting in the 1980s to the more contemporary accounting issues of derivatives and financial instruments.
The Malaysian accounting standard-setting bodies, notably the MIA and the MAaCPA, have also started to issue the revised lASs for application in Malaysia. Some of the revised lASs are still in the exposure draft stage in Malaysia at the time of writing this text. At the same time, some local accounting standards and technical guidelines have also been pronounced. In the course of my dealings and contact with the ever busy practitioners and preparers, many of them have expressed an urgency to update their knowledge on accounting principles, particularly in the light of these new pronouncements. A book, such as FARM, may thus help to fulfil this need.


The remarkable growth of the Malaysian economy has witnessed some significant changes in the corporate sector which have a direct bearing upon accounting principles and practices. For example, the emergence of large scale privatisation projects of the Govemment, such as the highway development projects, has created a need for some accounting guidance on toll concession rights. Similarly, the increase in the number of convertible securities, warrants, options and other derivative instruments, has called for an urgency to develop an accounting standard for these instruments. The temms of business acquisitions and mergers have also changed over the years. Contingencies based on profit guarantee and deferred considerations are nowadays structured in the temms of business combinations in Malaysia.