Regulatory Focus Areas in FY 2017 Financial Reports

In Singapore, the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) carries out regular reviews of annual reports of listed companies to ensure that they have been prepared in accordance to the financial reporting requirements. In September 2017, ACRA issued a guide on their review procedures, to help companies better understand the processes relating to selection of financial statements, gathering of facts, enquiry and evaluation, and deliberation of review results. The guide also sets out the remediation processes that companies and directors may be required to undertake.
 

In conjunction with the review, ACRA issued Financial Reporting Practice Guidance No. 1 of 2018 (“FRPG 2018”) to highlight its areas of focus for the review of financial statements for FY 2017.

The areas of focus in FRPG 2018 are largely consistent with FRPG 2016 (see our Moore Stephens Publications in January 2017 Edition), and include measurement and presentation issues associated with going concern, impairment, one-off gains/ losses, consolidation and equity accounting, and classification of cash flows, and disclosures of judgments and estimates. One key item highlighted in FRPG 2018 is the adequate disclosure of financial effects arising from upcoming financial reporting changes, including those affecting revenue, financial instruments, and leases. For Singapore listed companies, there could also be considerable financial effects arising from migrating to a new set of financial reporting rules, “Singapore Financial Reporting Standards (International)” or SFRS(I)s, which is required from 1 January 2018 onwards. These reporting requirements have been discussed in the following past publications:

If you are in doubt on any of the above areas of financial reporting, please do not hesitate to reach out to your Moore Stephens contact, or click here.