No decision yet on ‘fair value' concept in accounting: Khurshid

No decision yet on ‘fair value' concept in accounting: Khurshid 09 July 2010

India is yet to decide on whether it should adopt ‘fair value' accounting concept when the country's accounting standards are converged with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), said the Corporate Affairs Minister, Mr Salman Khurshid.“The decision has not been taken as yet. NACAS is still working on that. We need to move forward on that. Fair value is the most critical part of IFRS. They are still struggling with that idea. We will see when it comes to us (Ministry)”, Mr Khurshid told Business Line on the sidelines of an IFRS conference, organised by Assocham here on Thursday.

In his address, Mr Khurshid indicated that the country would stick to the already announced three-phased roadmap for IFRS convergence beginning April 1 next year.The Minister said that Indian professional accountants could emerge as accountants of the world if the country were to get its accountancy education right.

“The next big revolution in the country after the software revolution will be the accountancy revolution. India could emerge as accountants of the world. That is why IFRS is important.“If you want to serve the world and conquer the world, you have to learn the language the world speaks. That's why it is important we converge with IFRS,” Mr Khurshid said.Mr N.P. Sarda, Chairman of Deloitte, Haskins & Sells, said that accountants will find fair value concept difficult to implement, but there is no alternative as users of financial statements are demanding it.The Assocham Vice-President, Mr Raj Kumar Dhoot, emphasised that the current practice of historical cost-based accounting should continue and that fair value concept should not be immediately pursued.

Source:The Economic Times