Adopting IFRS will standardize accounting policies - Ravoet

Indunil HEWAGE

European Banking Federation Secretary General Guido Ravoet says adopting International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) will help to standardize accounting policies and financial reporting among different countries including Sri Lanka.

Senior Minister Sarath Amunugama with Guido Ravoet at the press conference. Picture by Thushara Fernando

“The IFRS will assist investors to assess published results of firms and institutions to access the capital market easily,” he said.

Addressing an IFRS Training Academy Forum held in Colombo yesterday Ravoet said being fully IFRS compliant and remaining so has been a formidable task in the face of changing regulations and increasing number of disclosure requirements and these issues will place a heavy demand on legacy accounting ledgers and consolidation systems.

In the current context of the globalization the world needs common accounting standards and then investors operating on a worldwide basis will be able to rely on such standards .

“Capturing and collecting figures for accounting purposes is a major confront facing financial institutions and needs considerable resources in terms of accounting staff and system. Presenting qualitative figures in an appropriate way to capital markets, to regulators and to investors will definitely affect the way financial institutions are perceived,” Ravoet said.

Senior Minister Dr Sarath Amunugama said Sri Lanka has an information crisis and highlighted the importance of the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards for banking sector as well as for the entire country to get more foreign investments .

The Minister also urged the European Union which is a major trading partner of Sri Lanka to look at Sri Lanka in a fair manner by fortifying financial and other linkages furthermore.