MANAMA; Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) held an outreach meeting with the international Islamic finance industry in Bahrain.
During the outreach meeting, AAOIFI and IASB, the body that develops and issues International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), exchanged views with the international Islamic finance industry on issues relating to application of international accounting standards for Islamic finance. The meeting also discussed issued that Islamic financial institutions might need to address in applying IFRS 9 Financial Instrument for their financial reporting, if they are required to adopt the same. IFRS 9 is a standard issued by IASB that deals with, amongst others, classification and measurement of financial assets.
The outreach meeting was attended by over 50 participants, comprising senior representatives of AAOIFI, IASB, central banks and regulatory authorities, national accounting standards boards from a number of countries including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Turkey, in addition to financial experts from Islamic financial institutions, accounting and auditing firms, academics and other Islamic finance industry stakeholders from over 15 countries across the major Islamic finance markets.
“The meeting was extremely helpful in strengthening cooperation between AAOIFI and the IASB towards better understanding of issues relating to accounting standards for the Islamic finance industry. It also reflected the increasing global role of AAOIFI in all areas pertaining to Islamic finance,” Dr. Hamed Hassan Merah, Secretary General of AAOIFI, said.
In addition to its role in developing standards for the international Islamic finance industry, AAOIFI is also a member of the IASB’s Consultative Group on Shariah-Compliant Instruments and Transactions.
AAOIFI, established in 1991 and based in Bahrain, is the leading international not-for-profit organisation primarily responsible for development and issuance of standards for the global Islamic finance industry. It has issued a total of 93 standards in the areas of Shari’a, accounting, auditing, ethics and governance for international Islamic finance. It is supported by over 200 institutional members, including central banks and regulatory authorities, financial institutions, accounting and auditing firms, and legal firms, from over 45 countries. Its standards are currently followed by all the leading Islamic financial institutions across the world and have introduced a progressive degree of harmonization of international Islamic finance practices.