The government has decided to amend the draft of the Financial Reporting Act (FRA) in accordance with a model from Sri Lanka, officials said.
According to the officials, the finance division is now looking into the weaknesses of the recommendations made by Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) last week.
As per the draft law, the violators will be awarded a five-year imprisonment or Tk100,000 fines, or the both. If any person or institution continues to violate, they will have to pay Tk5,000 as penalty for each day.
Former chairman of ICAB Abdul Salam informed the member of the ICAB about a meeting held with the finance secretary Fazle Kabir at the finance division last week regarding the amendment of the proposed FRA. He said the finance secretary assured the finance division of looking into the matter.
ICAB has always been against the proposed FRA as it is claiming there would be duel standards among the accountants and the auditors if the government enacts any such law. It will also hamper the existing independency of the chartered accountants, it believes.
Earlier, the government had assured the Asian Development Bank of enacting FRA by this month. “The bill will be placed in next parliament,” said a senior official of finance division.
As ICAB is currently regulates such job, there will be a conflict in the overseeing of the overall work if the proposed law is passed, according to ICAB.
