Last year China, Japan and Korea initiated the idea of forming a group of Asian-Oceanian standards setters as a forum for the countries in the region to exchange their ideas but also to have a joint voice in matters relating to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs). The group’s first meeting took place Beijing in April this year.
‘There was a need to create a forum to discuss common issues’, said Dato' Zainal Abidin Putih, Immediate Past President of the Malaysian Accounting Standards Board, (MASB). ‘There are currently two blocs, Europe and the US’, commented Jeff Lucy, Chairman of the Australian Financial Reporting Council, ‘and they don’t always agree. Having another group presenting their thoughts will be an advantage’.
The Asian-Oceanian Standards Setters Group (AOSSG), as it is known, had a first preparatory meeting in Beijing in April this year. ‘It was initiated originally by China, Japan and Korea’, said Zainal Abidin Putih. ‘They came together in the fourth quarter of last year to talk about things and thought that the whole of Asia and Oceania should come together. It is one region and everyone has common interests’. From there it was a short step to the Beijing meeting, which was sponsored by eleven jurisdictions from the region and attended by representatives of Brunei, China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau and Australia. Several board members of the IASB, including Sir David Tweedie, also attended the meeting. ‘It was good for the IASB to listen to what people in this region had to say, to understand and hear what we want to achieve’, said Zainal Abidin Putih.
