Accounting sector looks forward to industry law

The UAE is following international accounting standards and the accounting community expects an appropriate law will be enacted by the authorities soon, a senior London-based accountant has said. “I’m impressed with the developments in the UAE particularly the opportunities of business and investment in this area,” Colin Farmer, FCA, managing partner of Alliott UK, a leading chartered accountants company, told Khaleej Times during his visit to the UAE. He said that the Alliott Group is expanding in the region with offices in Saudi Arabia, Oman and Bahrain, other than Alliott Hadi Shahid providing professional services in Dubai and Abu Dhabi since a long time. Giving his views on international accounting, Farmer said that there now appears to be a strong desire for the International Accounting Standard Board, or IASB, to focus its future efforts on those jurisdictions which have adopted, or wish to adopt, International Financial Reporting Standards, or IFRS. “Further development of global standards needs to be via the adoption by countries of a single set of standards such as IFRS and not by trying to make different sets of standards more similar,” he said. He said that the long standing attempt to converge IFRS and US GAAP seems increasingly unlikely to succeed and so the focus now should be to speed up the revisions to the conceptual framework for financial reporting under IFRS and to complete the major projects on financial instruments, revenue recognition and lease accounting. Farmer said: “The cause of global business demands consistency, transparency and comparability in global financial reporting and the implementation of universally-accepted IFRS is the key to attaining this goal.” Farmer works with the owners and managers of UK and international entrepreneurial businesses to help them achieve their goals. He provides advice that makes a positive contribution to their business, combined with bespoke services to maximise their success. He is specialised in understanding the complex issues facing inward investing businesses setting up in the UK. He currently provides advice and services to numerous UK subsidiaries of overseas companies, including a number of well-known international retail chains.from khaleej times.