The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) is moving to simplify quarterly reporting for listed companies, aiming to reduce their compliance burden without leaving investors in the dark.
Currently, public companies must publish exhaustive quarterly financial statements. This often triggers a flurry of queries from the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) regarding profit fluctuations. The DSE then publishes explanations on its website, which market analysts rely on to update their investment models.
To streamline this tedious process, BSEC Chairman Masud Khan announced a plan to adopt IAS 34 (Interim Financial Reporting).
"This [reporting under IAS 34 guidelines] will provide investors with all the data they need to make informed decisions, while significantly cutting down the time, cost, and compliance burden for issuers," Mr Khan told The Financial Express.
What changes with IAS 34?
Instead of full-length reports, companies can submit a condensed set of primary financial statements.
Disclosure notes will focus strictly on explaining major events and transactions that have occurred since the last annual report, rather than repeating baseline information.
Finance Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury is championing deregulation to improve the country's business climate.
Following recent directives, the BSEC has relinquished its control over daily stock price circuit breakers (upper and lower price limits), handing full authority over single-day price bands to the DSE. In line with this market-driven shift, the BSEC is also going to ease disclosure requirements to simplify compliance for listed companies.
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