The Extent of Corporate Disclosure of Information by the Companies in CARs and Its Regulations: Implications in Bangladesh (Published)
The relative weight of developing countries regulations in CARs disclosures have been growing hurriedly over recent years. The study is an attempt to examine of disclosure of financial information upon adoption of International Accounting Standards (IASs) in Bangladesh. In international accounting arena disclosure is the key to understanding one country’s accounting system. As they continue integrating into the global trading and financial systems, they need to strengthen their respective national accounting infrastructures, essential to attract and provide services to international investments and institutional and technical capacities to be able to comply with international requirements, standards and codes. The accounting system of each country is affected by different influential factors. Issues concerning developing countries in relation to accounting, and in particular international accounting, have generated considerable interest among accounting scholars and practitioners in both developed and emerging countries. In this paper, the researcher has examined the impact of British colonial influence, regulation, and mandatory IASs/IFRSs on disclosure of Corporate Annual Reports (CARs) of Bangladesh. This study showed that the British colonial influence through the adopted the former British Laws is prevalent on the accounting systems of Bangladesh and has a greater impact on the financial reporting practices of the companies’ financial reporting practices. The Securities and Exchange Ordinance 1969, Bangladesh Bank Order 1972, Securities and Exchange Rules 1987, Bank Companies Act 1991, Financial Institutions Act 1993, Securities and Exchange Commission Act 1993, Companies Act 1994 and Bankruptcy Act 1997 are the most important legislations to govern the corporate financial reporting environment in Bangladesh. Since 1983, Bangladesh is trying to adopt the International Accounting Standards (IASs/IFRS) which has become mandatory from 2000 for the listed companies for preparation and auditing of financial statements. It has found that the Companies Act 1994 does not contain any provision for mandatory observance of the adopted IFRSs and ISAs in practice which has made the unlisted companies to follow IASss/IFRSs compulsorily. In addition, to ensure more transparency in accounting system and disclosure of important accounting policies of banks and financial institutions in Bangladesh, the Central Bank (Bangladesh Bank) issued a circular (BRPD) Circular No. 3/2000 dated 18/04/2000) for mandatory adoption of IAS-30. As a result, since 2000, all banks in Bangladesh are required to use the IAS-30 in the preparation of their corporate annual reports. Further, the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) of Bangladesh has passed Corporate Governance Guidelines in February 2006 that expect to increase the level of disclosure made the listed companies in Bangladesh.
Keywords: Accounting Standards, Accounting Systems, Colonial Power International Accounting Standards, Disclosure, Financial Reporting, IFRS, Regulation, SEC