The Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) Accounting Board (AAB / the board) has officially issued the Financial Accounting Standard (FAS) 41 “Interim Financial Reporting”.

The objective of this standard is to set out the principles for interim financial reporting for all institutions having adopted AAOIFI FASs and it should be read with other AAOIFI FASs and generally accepted accounting principles, applicable in relevant jurisdictions. The standard applies to institutions that elect to publish or are required to publish interim financial reports according to applicable laws, regulations, or practices.

On this occasion, Mr. Hamad Al Oqab, Chairman of AAB, stated that “It was important to issue a standard on interim financial reporting that caters to the information needs of users of financial statements particularly with regard to matters that are distinct to Islamic finance”. He further added that, “The standard permits users to either prepare a complete set of financial statements as prescribed by FAS 1 (General Presentation and Disclosures in the Financial Statements) or a set of condensed interim financial statements which is similar, as a practice, to generally accepted accounting principles. It is expected that the standard shall improve the overall accounting and financial reporting practices by achieving a higher level of transparency in alignment with FAS 1”.

The issued standard can be accessed exclusively by the digital version (of AAOIFI standards) subscribers, and free subscription can be attained, on the AAOIFI website: www.aaoifi.com