Singapore Accounting Standards

In 2007, Singapore Parliament passed down an Accounting Standards Act and formed the Accounting Standards Council (ASC) with the responsibility in making and maintaining the accounting standards applicable to companies and other incorporated and unincorporated bodies in Singapore. However, Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) has the responsibility in monitoring and enforcing the compliance of the accounting standards for all business entities in Singapore.

The ASC mandate is to create, change, review and approve the accounting standards for all entities under its purview with considerations in providing the information required by the stakeholders of the entities, facilitating the comparison, declaration and clarity in financial reporting, harmonizing with the international accounting standards and most of all, positioning Singapore’s status as a trustworthy international financial and business hub.

Derives from International Accounting Standards and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) issued by International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), ASC prescribed the Singapore accounting standards known as the Singapore Financial Reporting Standards (SFRS). ASC closely monitors any changes in IFRS for new accounting standards and also takes into consideration of the local business and economic context where applicable to Singapore.

To achieve its objectives, the ASC mainly develops and publishes the SFRS and supporting the use of accounting standards in general purpose financial statements and other financial reporting, which contains financial information outside the financial statements, for all publicly and non-publicly accountable entities. With the published financial information of those publicly accountable entities, it will help users like shareholders, creditors, staffs and the public overall to understand those entities financial status and make economic decisions.

However, SFRS covers general purpose financial statements and other financial reporting in broad range. It might not applicable to those non-publicly accountable entities, who produce financial statements only for the entity owners’ or managers’ usage and the tax or other government authorities’ usage. In 2010, ASC adopted the International Financial Reporting Standard for Small and Medium-sized Entities (IFRS for SMEs) into the Singapore Financial Reporting Standard for Small Entities (SFRS for Small Entities).