UK accountancy regulators have reneged on a proposal to impose international disclosure standards on “publicly accountable” non-listed companies, after complaints that it would mean unnecessary costs for building societies and credit unions .
According to the Accounting Standards Board’s 2010 original plans, “publicly accountable” companies were those that lent money to individuals; they were meant to have used European International Financial Reporting Standards from mid-2013.
However, auditors criticised the vague definition of public accountability and stated that numerous would be forced to incur unnecessary costs by producing accounts with a non requisite level of detail.
On Monday the ASB announced that it had dropped those proposals upon receiving complaints that the costs to particular companies could not be substantiated by the benefits.
The regulator is now going to progress reforms to the UK’s existing accounting standards.
The details are going to be published in mid-2013, with the rules being actualised in January 2015 11 years after the ASB started consulting on the reforms.