Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) in collaboration with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) hosted a public hearing on behalf of Accounting & Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) on the Exposure Drafts Governance Standard: Central Shariah Board and Accounting Standard: Murabaha and deferred payment sales at ICAP.
The sessions were attended by Shariah scholars, personnel from the banking and finance profession and members of ICAP. Omar Mustafa Ansari, Deputy Secretary General of AAOIFI presented the salient features of the draft standards followed by full reading of drafts with interactive discussions.
Ansari informed that with the growth and expansion of Islamic banking and finance, a central or national approach has emerged across the globe with respect to Shariah Boards that function at the level of the wider Islamic finance industry, advising or supervising products, practices, operations, etc.
This governance standard seeks to provide guidance to the regulators to help define the key terms of reference and principles for such boards and to standardize the global regulatory practices in this respect.
The session on the Governance Standard was chaired by Dr Ishrat Hussain Chairman of the AAOIFI Governance Board and the session on the accounting standard was chaired by Nadeem Yousaf Adil, President ICAP. Dr Ishrat Hussain in his concluding remarks emphasized the need for inclusiveness and for the subject experts and the Shariah scholars working together for promoting Islamic finance. Nadeem Yousaf Adil appreciated AAOIF's approach in developing global standards and engaging stakeholders world over. ICAP is considering adopting AAOIFI accounting standards and is also working closely with AAOIFI on joint projects.-PR