On 20 September the Institute issued a new set of Guidance Notes entitled TECH 01/12 Ultimate Controlling Party Disclosures under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and Practice and Generally Accepted Auditing Standards.
 

The scope of these guidance notes is to provide practical guidance to Members on the applicability of the requirements to be found in International Accounting Standard (IAS) 24, Related Party Disclosures, and in International Standard on Auditing (ISA) 705, Modifications to the Opinion in the Independent Auditor’s Report, and on complying with these standards. 

IAS 24 requires an entity to disclose, amongst others, the identity of the ultimate controlling party. ISA 705 on the other hand requires an auditor to give such disclosure in the auditor’s report when this has not been given in the entity’s financial statements prepared in accordance with IFRSs as adopted by the EU. 
 

In 2006, the MIA had issued guidance (TECH 01/06) to set out an accountant’s and auditor’s professional obligations in relation to IAS 24. TECH 01/06 had been withdrawn by the Institute on 14 December 2011 and the guidance therein has been replaced in two phases. As an interim phase, the Institute published TECH 02/11 on 14 December 2011. The second phase is being completed by virtue of this Technical Pronouncement. As of the date of this Technical Pronouncement, TECH 02/11 is being withdrawn.
 

TECH 01/12 deals with the following aspects:

 

1) The applicability of professional standards;

2) The MIA’s guidance and recommendations; and

3) Illustrative disclosures.

 

Members are invited to contact the Institute if they wish to clarify any queries that they might about the transitional period.
 

The Guidance Notes are freely downloadable by Members from the ‘Guidance Notes’ e-library on the Institute's website which can be accessed after log in.