7. The Government of Lao PDR deserves credit for introducing new accounting
and auditing laws in 2007, which attempted to adopt a number of international
“like” standards. However, these laws and related regulations do not provide a robust
statutory framework in the area of accounting and auditing. In many cases the laws
appear to be indistinct and do not cover pertinent crucial issues, thus leaving room for
misinterpretation. The Audit Law lacks clarity on audit certification and licensing
requirements and also lacks clarity on auditor appointment and removal as well as
auditors’ rights and duties. The Accounting Law includes much descriptive type narrative
and attempts to outline much of the qualitative characteristics of IFRS. Likely update and
revision of IFRS will necessitate revision of the Accounting Law. For example, the IASB
is consulting on the development of a revised Conceptual Framework. Any revision
would require amendment to Article 5 of the Accounting Law.