GASAB ISSUES ACCOUNTING STANDARDS ON GOVERNMENT GUARANTEES
Government Accounting
Standards Advisory Board (GASAB) has issued first Exposure Draft
on the proposed Government Accounting Standard on "Guarantees
given by Governments". The draft specifies the extent and
nature of disclosures to be made in the financial statements in
regard to Guarantees by governments. The draft has adopted the
view that ‘letter of comfort’ issued by the Government may be
treated as good as implicit guarantee. However, contingent liabilities
arising from social benefits are excluded from the present preview.
This standard
becomes effective in respect of financial statements prepared
and presented on or after April 1, 2003.
The release of
this Exposure Draft therefore marks the beginning of an endeavour
to establish standards of governmental accounting and financial
reporting that will foster improvement of the accounting systems
and effective internal controls and result in useful information
for users of financial reports. The objective of the proposed
Government Accounting Standard on guarantees is to provide uniform
and complete disclosure of guarantees given by Governments in
their financial statements. The matter of guarantees given by
Governments has been identified in view of its importance so far
as contingent liabilities of Governments are concerned as reflected
in various national and international fora.
The Exposure Draft
is available on the web site: http://www.cagindia.org.
Comments, if any, on the Exposure Draft may be submitted in writing
within 45 days of its issue to the Member-Secretary (GASAB), GASAB
Secretariat, Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of
India, 10, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi-110 002. These could
also be forward to ddgasab@cag.delhi.nic.in.
