Introduction

INTRODUCTION

Prior to 2003, Statutory Boards were guided by the Auditor-General’s Office’s paper “Uniformity in Accounting Treatment and Presentation of Financial Statements of Statutory Boards” (Uniformity Paper) when preparing their financial statements. The Uniformity Paper required Statutory Boards to follow the Statements of Accounting Standards (SAS) and provided guidelines for areas not covered by the SAS. 

In August 2002, the Council on Corporate Disclosure and Governance (CCDG) was set up to take over the issuing of accounting standards from ICPAS. The standards issued by CCDG are known as the Singapore Financial Reporting Standards (SFRS).

An Advisory Committee was set by the Ministry of Finance (MOF) to review and recommend accounting standards to be adopted by Statutory Boards in place of the SAS. Since then, the Ministry of Finance (MOF), through the Accountant-General’s Department (AGD), issued finance circulars to prescribe accounting standards for SBs.

The Accounting Standards Act 2007 (“Act”) was passed in Parliament on 27 August 2007 and came into effect on 1 November 2007. The Act established the Accounting Standards Council (“ASC”) and appointed the Accountant-General as the legal authority to prescribe accounting standards for Statutory Boards.

Every Statutory Board specified in the First Schedule of the Act shall prepare its financial statements in compliance with the accounting standards established by the Accountant-General.  The Statutory Board Financial Reporting Standards (SB-FRS) are issued by the Accountant-General for Statutory Boards via this website.