ASIC’s guidance on financial reports and audit relief
The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) issued an update of Regulatory Guide 43 Financial reports and audit relief (RG43) in October 2008. Members are reminded that the updated RG43 provides information about when statutory pre-conditions for relief will be satisfied. This may occur when compliance with the relevant provisions of Chapter 2M would impose an unreasonable burden. The updated RG43 also reflects changes in the Corporations Act and includes new case law.
In addition to the above guide, ASIC also issued its report on decisions to relief applications entitled Overview of decisions on relief applications (April to July 2008) (Report 142). The report and the regulatory guide are available from the ASIC website: select the ‘For companies’ tab and followed by the ‘Financial reporting’ option.
More recently, ASIC also released its guidance to entities preparing their 31 December 2008 financial and audit reports. The guidance incorporates specific issues identified through ASIC’s review of 30 June 2008 financial reports, and they include:
1. the appropriateness of the going concern assumption in financial reporting
2. the adequacy of asset impairment write-downs
3. fair value determination
4. the reasonableness of off-balance sheet arrangements
5. the quality and completeness of the new financial instrument disclosures.
More information is available from the ASIC’s website under the financial reporting page.