Govt re-constitutes a body on accounting standards

The ministry of corporate affairs has decided to re-constitute National Advisory Committee on Accounting Standards (NACAS) under the chairmanship of Amarjit Chopra, a former president of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). The re-constitution assumes significance since International Financial Reporting Standards-compliant Indian standards are to come India from  next year  on a voluntary basis and mandatorily a year later.

NACAS is a body of experts including representatives of various regulatory bodies and Government agencies, which has been engaged in the exercise of examining Accounting Standards prepared by ICAI.

MCA notifies the accounting standards after getting a review from NACAS. Since there are various drafts of Ind-AS (IFRS-compliant) waiting to be reviewed by NACAS, the reconstitution will help MCA notify the new Ind-AS as soon as possible.

Sai Venkateshwaran, Partner and Head, Accounting Advisory Services, KPMG in India said," This development is quite timely and a welcome step, considering that Indian companies will adopt IFRS converged standards from financial 2016-17, and voluntarily from 2015-16."
 
NACAS was last constituted  in April, 2012 for a period up to February 28, 2013. It was not extended  after the new Act,  2013 came into operation. Under the new Act, the National Financial Regulatory Auhtority (NFRA) is envisaged but it is yet to be notified. NACAS would be re-constituted for a period of one year or by the time NFRA is notified,  whichever is earlier.