A group of National Standard-Setters in Asian-Oceanian Region

John O’Grady has been appointed to the IFRS Interpretations Committee for an initial three-year term from June 2012. He will join colleagues from other AOSSG jurisdictions in the IFRS Interpretations Committee: Feilong Li (China) and Joanna Perry (New Zealand).

John O’Grady is an Assurance Partner in Ernst & Young (EY), based in Hong Kong, China and Melbourne, Australia. He is a senior Partner in EY’s Asia Pacific Professional Practice Group where he has led the Asia Pacific IFRS Group since the formation of the Asia Pacific Area within EY in July 2010. Prior to that time he led the Oceania Area IFRS Group from 2005. John is also a member of EY's global IFRS Policy Committee, which is responsible for recommending EY policy around IFRS application, reporting and interpretation globally. John has overall responsibility for IFRS consultations and interpretations within EY across Asia Pacific, and leads a team of IFRS Professional Practice personnel across 22 countries. He is a graduate of University College Dublin and a Fellow of the Institutes of Chartered Accountants in Australia and in Ireland.

The IASB-FASB Roundtable on Revenue Recognition from Contracts with Customers held in Tokyo, 4 April 2012 was attended by the AOSSG Chair, Kevin Stevenson and AOSSG member standard setters, Ikuo Nishikawa, Chair and Atsu Kato, Vice Chair of Accounting Standards Board Japan. Topics of discussion included; performance obligations satisfied over time, onerous performance obligations and disclosure.

AOSSG Chair, Kevin Stevenson, took part in the IFRS Conference themed ‘Challenges & Opportunities’ was held 1-2 May, in Qassim of Saudi Arabia. This conference was particularly timely as the Saudi Organizations of CPA (SOCPA) announced, in the lead up to the conference, that it would be adopting IFRS for non-financial reporting entities. Financial institutions already apply IFRS. The objective of the conference was to explore challenges and opportunities when adopting IFRS.

AOSSG Chairman, Kevin Stevenson gave an International keynote address at the IFRS World Accounting Summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 7 - 10 May 2012. Atsu Kato, Vice Chairman, Accounting Standards Board Japan and AOSSG member, presented on the Accounting Bodies Panel: What guidance and services have they been providing to their members through challenging times?

Peter Casey, Senior Director, Policy and Strategy, Head of Islamic Finance, Dubai Financial Services Authority and AOSSG member, presented on Islamic Finance – Is IFRS capturing the Sharia – Compliant Instrument Market session.

Mr Stevenson also met with various interested parties at the Dubai Financial Services Authority, an event organised by Peter Casey.

In April, 2012 Kevin Stevenson, presented a half day seminar on IFRS to members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Nepal. This included discussion of how Nepal might adopt IFRS. The event was organised by Pradeep Shrestha, Chairman, Accounting Standards Board Nepal and his Board.

AprilThe communique of the 6th IFRS Regional Policy Forum in Kuala Lumpur on 26-27 March 2012 is now available. The theme of the Forum was 'Convergence and Beyond, Navigating Change', and discussions were related to the future of financial reporting standards, transition to IFRS, and a framework for standard setters, regulators and auditors.

The Asian-Oceanian Standard-Setters Group (AOSSG) met on 25 March 2012 in Kuala Lumpur.  The informal meeting was attended by 15 member standard setters and representatives of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB).

AOSSG members and IASB representatives discussed current issues being deliberated by the IASB and emerging issues that are affecting the Asia-Oceania region.  In addition, AOSSG members supported developing a proposal to establish an IFRS Centre of Excellence in a developing country within Asia-Oceania.

The media release for the informal AOSSG meeting is now available. 

The AOSSG congratulates Dr Chungwoo Suh on his appointment as a member of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) commencing 1 July 2012 for an initial five-year term.

Dr Suh served as the Chair of the Korean Accounting Standards Board (KASB), and was an active participant in AOSSG activities from 2008 to 2011. During that time, AOSSG members have had great pleasure in working with Dr Suh and acknowledge his leadership and support of KASB’s contributions to the AOSSG.

AOSSG members look forward to working with Dr Suh in his IASB role with the aim of continuing to promote improved financial reporting within Asia-Oceania.

The AOSSG will hold an Informal Meeting co-hosted by the Malaysian Accounting Standards Board at the Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur Hotel on 25 March 2012, Sunday from 2:30PM to 5:30PM.
At the meeting, AOSSG members will discuss recent developments in active AOSSG and IASB projects with members of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB).  Attendees at the meeting include IASB Vice-Chairman, a number of other IASB members and senior staff, and National Standard-Setters from throughout the region.

Professor Philip Brown, Professor University of New South Wales (UNSW) and Emeritus Professor University of Western Australia (UWA), spoke at the AOSSG gala dinner in Melbourne 23 November 2011. The dinner was attended by AOSSG members, IASB representatives, IFRS Foundation representatives, FRC members, AASB members and other members of the accounting profession.

Professor Brown’s speech titled Academics and Standard Setters: Partners or Protagonists? highlighted the need for closer collaboration between academics and standard setters in enhancing the debate on critical financial reporting issues internationally.