Abstract
On September 9, 2015, the Bangladesh Parliament passed the Financial Reporting Act (FRA), 2015. The FRA requires the establishment of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) - an independent oversight body for the public accountancy profession. The main purpose of the FRC will be to regulate the financial reporting process followed by the public interest entities. Judging by the initial reactions as published in the local media, this initiative appears
to have a wide support from a number of important stakeholder groups. Especially, the investors seem to be optimistic about the capability of the FRC to bring a degree of discipline in the financial reporting and auditing process, and subsequently, strengthen the capital markets. However, a number of concerns regarding some provisions of the FRA were raised by members of the public accountancy profession in a recent World Bank event for the dissemination of the ROSC (2015), held in Dhaka on October 25, 2015. It was argued that the FRC would not be able to attain its stated objectives in current form. The World Bank has also found a great degree of validity to these concerns. The World Bank has also identified a number of implementation issues which, if not addressed at this stage, may potentially affect the effectiveness of the FRA. The objective of this review is to provide guidance to the MoF on how to effectively address the FRA implementation challenges. The note presents a brief overview of events leading to the passing of the FRA (2015) and assesses the subsequent concerns raised by stakeholder groups in the light of global experience regarding establishment
of independent audit regulators.
to have a wide support from a number of important stakeholder groups. Especially, the investors seem to be optimistic about the capability of the FRC to bring a degree of discipline in the financial reporting and auditing process, and subsequently, strengthen the capital markets. However, a number of concerns regarding some provisions of the FRA were raised by members of the public accountancy profession in a recent World Bank event for the dissemination of the ROSC (2015), held in Dhaka on October 25, 2015. It was argued that the FRC would not be able to attain its stated objectives in current form. The World Bank has also found a great degree of validity to these concerns. The World Bank has also identified a number of implementation issues which, if not addressed at this stage, may potentially affect the effectiveness of the FRA. The objective of this review is to provide guidance to the MoF on how to effectively address the FRA implementation challenges. The note presents a brief overview of events leading to the passing of the FRA (2015) and assesses the subsequent concerns raised by stakeholder groups in the light of global experience regarding establishment
of independent audit regulators.
| Original language | English |
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| Type | Policy note |
| Publisher | The World Bank |
| Publication status | Published - 2017 |
Publication series
| Name | Policy note to the Government of Bangladesh |
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