Financial Reporting Panel to close

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, David Bradbury, has announced that the Financial Reporting Panel (FRP) will be wound up and that legislation amending the Corporations Act 2001 to effect this decision will soon be introduced into federal Parliament.

The FRP was established in 2006 as an alternative and more timely dispute resolution mechanism to the legal actions that might otherwise be involved when ASIC and the preparers of a lodged financial report disagreed on the application of an accounting standard. Over that period  the panel has ruled on only five cases, leading the federal government to issue a discussion paper (PDF) in November 2011 questioning its ongoing usefulness.

The Institute lodged a submission on this paper which did not support the panel’s closure. Instead it argued that the FRP still had a significant role to play in Australia’s financial reporting framework and recommended enhancing its processes and powers.

More information on the panel’s closure can be found on the Treasury’s media release.

Article last updated 13 February 2012