AAOIFI Issues Two Drafts on Islamic Accounting

The Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) is an Islamic international autonomous non-for-profit corporate body that prepares accounting, auditing, governance, ethics and Sharia'a standards for Islamic financial institutions and the industry. Recently, the AAOIFI has published an exposure draft (ED) and a consultation paper. The ED topic is about the proposed standard for a new investment in real estate. The consultation paper discusses the revision of two existing standards for investment accounts. Islamic financial transactions are particularly influenced by the consideration of the interest prohibition; conventional accounting standards are therefore sometimes difficult to apply to those financial transactions. Comments for both drafts are due 8 April 2012.