A column by Rahul Roy in The Business Standard deals with the proposed revision and simplification of Schedule VI to the Companies Act. This schedule prescribes the presentation and disclosure requirements for financial statements. The column strenuously argues that the current version of Schedule VI is severely outdated and as to how it should be brought in tune with developments in the financial world. However, questions are raised about whether amendment to Schedule VI is the right way to proceed:
“Globally, professional bodies of accounting standard setters prescribe accounting formats. The advantages are obvious. This is a specialised area which requires professional input; and has to be updated frequently to keep pace with changes in the economic and commercial environment. A schedule to a law, which has to be debated and amended only by Parliament obviously does not offer the flexibility required. Also given the scheme of things, an accounting legislation may not be the highest priority of our Parliamentarians.
Today, the prescriptions of Schedule-VI are far removed from the reality of what financial statements mean. It is only a legal figment that accounts in India comply with Schedule-VI. For starters, Schedule-VI does not even have any prescribed format for a Profit & Loss Account; it does not require a cash flow statement; it does not require disclosure of accounting policies; it does not require disclosure for leases; it does not warrant disclosure of deferred taxes or disclosure regarding impairment losses or intangibles. Further, the Schedule VI was conceived in an era when nobody had even heard of derivatives and so remains blissfully unaware of derivatives and disclosure of potential losses therein.
On the other hand, the Schedule-VI requires detailed disclosure of inventories, capacity, production and turnover for every significant item produced or traded. This is not required under any global framework and is potentially disadvantageous for the Indian industry vis-à-vis its global competitors as it forces companies operating in India to disclose their confidential operating data. These disclosures were conceived in a “Licence Raj” era and serve no useful purpose today when alternate Segment Reporting data is already available.”
In addition, the Rahul Roy points to the multiplicity of prescriptions that operates in relation to disclosure of financial statements, and the compounding confusion that it brings about:
“While on one hand the MCA is trying to reinvent the Schedule-VI, on the other hand multiplicity and confusion in the standard setting process in the country is increasing. ICAI’s Accounting Standards Board is setting Standards; the National Advisory Committee of Accounting Standards (NACAS) is considering and notifying Standards; the MCA is notifying Rules (Accounting Standards Rules, 2000) that directly contradict Schedule-VI thereby creating a legislative conflict by specifying that a Rule will override an Act !!; the RBI is issuing provisioning & income recognition guidelines; SEBI is mandating presentation and disclosure formats of interim and annual results; and the ICAI is busy issuing ‘announcements’, impacting accounting but without either the due diligent process of formulating Standards or investing these announcements with the authority of a mandatory pronouncement.”
