A quiet moment.Background
Currently CCDG is seeking comment on the proposed SME FRS.
Discussion
Referring to a news article in BT Weekend dated May 19-20, 2007, here are the views of Mr Kon Yin Tong, an ICPAS council member, on the proposed SME FRS.
The proposed change is expected to reduce the existing volume of accounting requirements for SMEs by more than 85%.
This is no good as it would cause problems for USERS of financial information such as tax authorities and lenders. [Why? I wonder.]
He opined that given the different standards and thus different profit definition would result in creating more work for the tax authorities to determine taxable income. [So?] For the lenders, the bankers would be in a mess assessing creditworthiness. [Huh?]
Is he implying that the tax authorities and lenders, given their massive resources, will not be able to sort out their resources to meet the challenge? Instead the burden of reporting under the full FRSs be continued to dwell on the shoulders of plumbers, electricians, small retailers, traders.. who are toiling in increasingly demanding business landscape.
Mr Kon also highlighted the difficulty of SMEs presenting their financials should they decide to go public. [Huh?] If my humble company were to aspire to go public, I would have planned for it. And overcoming the reporting shortfall, if any, would be a lovely problem to solve. But the reality is that those SMEs without such aspiration would far outnumber those with aspiration to go public.
In my humble opinion, I believe the economic benefits derived from the proposed move would outweigh the costs.
