YOGYAKARTA – Indonesian accountant’s understanding in of international accounting standards is still lacking. The lack of understanding is due to limited knowledge of accounting terms. In addition, the accountants are also struggling to adapt and adopt international accounting standards. Therefore, preparation of Indonesian accounting dictionary that can adopt international accounting standards is urgent to be made. “The accountant’s understanding of international accounting standards is still lacking, therefore, the Indonesian accounting dictionary is urgent to be made," says Prof. Dr. Indra Bastian, M.B.A, Akt., on the sidelines of the IFRS International Training Training for Trainers and the preparation of Indonesia Accounting Dictionary, which was held in BRI Room 3rd Floor M.Si. and Doctoral Program, UGM Faculty of Economics and Business on Monday (17/1).
Indra Bastian added that up until now there is no Indonesian accounting dictionary existing. Whereas, the convergence of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) carries a wide impact on the development of accounting in Indonesia, both in practice and academic. This convergence affects accounting theory standards in Indonesia, which have an impact on changes in the financial statements of entities.
Moreover, the dominance of the practitioners who are members of the Indonesian Accountants Association (IAI) makes the IFRS adaptations almost without a filter. On the other hand, differences in language and interpretation problems in various accounting standards also become another urgent challenge in Indonesia. “Other challenges and obstacles are, among others, the interpretation as well as language barriers in adopting IFRS by the accountants which almost without a filter. About the number of accountants in Indonesia, I think it’s adequate," said the lecturer of Department of Accounting.
In relation to this, UGM Research and Training of Economics and Business (P2EB) and IFRS Centre of Excellence along with PricewaterhouseCoopers conducted this international training event. The event that was attended by about 100 accounting lecturers from various universities throughout Indonesia was held from 17 to 22 January 2011.
This training aims to provide a precise and profound understanding of IFRS. In addition, participants will be involved to become contributors to the preparation of the Indonesian Accounting Dictionary draft. "The draft of the Indonesian Accounting Dictionary will be used as guidance in interpreting the language of accounting," he added.
In addition, the participants will get a variety of materials, such as intermediate financial accounting, advanced financial accounting and accounting theory. They also will receive several certificates at once, both from P2EB UGM, IAI DIY, IFRS Centre of Excellence and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Speakers present in this training, among others, were Prof. Dr. Slamet Sugiri, M.B.A. ( Chairman of UGM Department of Accounting), Prof. Dr. Suwardjono, M.Sc. (Professor of Theory of Accounting), Dr. Setiyono Miharjo, M.B.A. (Financial Accounting Standards Board Member of IAI), Djohan Pinnarwan, S.E, BAP (PwC), and Dudi Kurniawan, SE, Ak., MBA (Member of the Financial Accounting Standards Board IAI).