The ASC is empowered under the Accounting Standards Act to prescribe accounting standards for use by companies, charities, co-operative societies and societies.
The broad policy intention is to adopt the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). Convergence with international accounting standards would achieve greater transparency and comparability of financial information among companies and help lower compliance costs for companies investing in Singapore as well as local companies going overseas. However, while the ASC will track closely the introduction of new IFRS for possible adoption in Singapore, it will also take into account the local economic and business circumstances and context, as well as the entity to which the IFRS would apply to.