The Malaysian Accounting Standards Board (MASB) will introduce new Islamic accounting standards on Ijarah (leasing) in the first quarter of next year.
“We are still working on it and it is already 60 percent complete,” MASB executive director Dr Nordin Mohd Zain said during a media briefing on regional accounting standards here today.
Dr Nordin said the accounting board was also working on zakat (tax), murabahah (deferred sales) and takaful (insurance) accounting standards which will be introduced in the coming years.
He said that MASB had in Jan 1, 2003, introduced its first Islamic accounting standards namely MASB i-1:Presentation of Financial Statements of Islamic Financial Institutions.
“We are working closely with some West Asia accounting boards … get their advice and see what they have that can be applied in our Islamic accounting standards,” Dr Nordin said.
Currently MASB is working with Bahrain's accounting board.
“There is a need for Islamic accounting standards as the products and services are widely used by the private sectors in the country,” MASB's chairman Datuk Zainal Abidin Putih meanwhile said.
In many cases the Islamic securities are raised to finance long-trem infrastructure and development projects, and “the Islamic private debt securities (PDS) now account for 40 percent of the total PDS,” he said.
Apart from that Zainal Abidin said that there was no need for any revision in the current conventional accounting standards to comply with the Islamic accounting standard.
“Both standards are built in two different platforms and methodology. MASB is working hard to ensure that the users will understand the new Islamic standards, as at the end of the day, it reaches the same objectives,” the chairman said.
He said “transparency” will be the main objective for both standards.
