The CA Institute has come up with a new version of proposed accounting standard on ‘financial instruments’ and sought public comments on this draft standard.

This new version – which is being called Ind AS 109 — is essentially a result of the global financial crisis (2008) and tries to among other things fix the problems that led to the crisis

It will replace the earlier proposed Ind AS 39, Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement, said K Raghu, President, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI)

Although the CA Institute had proposed Ind AS 39, the Centre had not deemed it fit to notify the same and hence they were not implemented.

The CA Institute’s latest version corresponds to IFRS 9, an internationally recognised standard on financial instruments.

The new version put out by the CA Institute essentially addresses the ‘too little, too late’ loan loss recognition problem, which had wreaked havoc on the balance sheets of several financial institutions of developed countries.

The G20 countries had made a case for addressing this "too little, too late" problem as regards loan loss recognition by banks and financial institutions.

From the incurred loss model (proposed in Ind AS 39), the new version proposes to introduce an “expected loss” model. This is seen to be a more realistic approach for loan loss recognition in books of accounts, sources in the CA Institute said.

The proposed Ind AS 109 is sought to be made applicable from financial year 2015-16 voluntarily and from financial year 2016-17 on mandatory basis.

The last date for public comments on the new version—Ind AS 109—is October 25.

Meanwhile, the CA Institute has now decided to make public (on its website) all the comments that it will receive on draft accounting standards.

“The comments of the members and public would be uploaded on the website of ICAI for public viewing. This marks the beginning of a new era of transparency and governance to which ICAI is committed”, Raghu said.