KARACHI, April 25: A seminar on “Recent Amendments in the Companies Ordinance, 1984” held under the auspices of the Southern Regional Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) deliberated on the question of ‘fair value accounting’.

A press release issued on the occasion stated that for the past few years, ‘fair value accounting’ had assumed significant importance as an area of major concern

and discussion within the accounting industry. Following the adoption of International Accounting Standards (IAS) 32, concerning ‘Financial Instruments: Disclosure and Presentation’ and IAS-39 relating to ‘Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement’ by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), quite a number of seminars have been held, where participants have endeavoured to discuss and understand the accounting concepts and disclosure requirements of those standards in the financial statements.

“However, it is strongly felt that concerted efforts are required to be made to help resolve practical problems faced by accountants when applying fair value accounting,” the press release stated.

It said that the speaker of the seminar on “Recent Amendments in Companies Ordinance, 1984”, Mr. Mehmood Mandviwalla, Barrister-at Law, enlightened participants on the following: Review of areas, where fair value accounting was applicable; benefits of fair value accounting; practical considerations in evaluation of fair value of financial instruments and technical session on measurement of fair value of financial instruments.