IFRS: More underwriters submit 2012 accounts to beat deadline

 

Chuks Udo Okonta

More underwriters have submitted their 2012 International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) compliant accounts to the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), to enable them beat the June 30, submission deadline required by the industry’s law, Inspen, has learnt.

It was gathered from a reliable source that more accounts have been received, barely two weeks ago when it was exclusively reported by Inspen that only five firms had sent their accounts to the commission.

Efforts to ascertain if more accounts have been approved was not successful as the source said the commission is working on releasing detailed information soonest.

 Director Supervision NAICOM, Nicholas Opara, has noted that the commission would approve the four accounts, as soon as the defects observed are corrected.

He maintained that the commission would never approve any account that fails to meet the required standard.

He expressed misgivings over how most operators handle their accounts, stressing that underwriters lack justification for not producing standard accounts as they are given enough time by the commission to do so.

NAICOM said following the announcement of the adoption of the Nigeria road map to IFRS by the federal government; it expects insurance and reinsurance companies to take appropriate steps to ensure a seamless transition to the new financial reporting regime. It noted that to this end, all insurance and reinsurance companies are to submit their plan, for conversion to IFRS, by April 1, 2011. Thereafter, information on the progress made in the implementation of the said plan should be provided in the quarterly return to it.

It said: “This should include, but not limited to, information on the following issues, accompanied with timelines, where necessary: IFRS awareness and knowledge acquisition, conversion management and outline of conversion plan, detailed Gap and IFRS impact analysis, draft IFRS-compliant financial reports, communication channel with relevant stakeholders

“The financial statement for the years ending 31 December, 2010 should disclose this plan and possible impact of IFRS on the opening balances for the year 2011. In particular, the opening balance sheet for the year 2011 and their reconciliation to the closing for the year 2011 should be submitted to the commission not later than 1st September, 2011.

“The IFRS opening and closing balance sheets, which should form the comparatives for 2012 financial reporting, shall be audited.”