The Legal and Institutional Framework for Corporate Financial Reporting Practices in South Asia

While most of the accounting research concentrates mainly on Europe and developed countries, the South Asian region has not been substantially explored. The purpose of this paper is to examine the legal and institutional environment for corporate financial reporting practices in three South Asian countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), namely Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. On the basis of examining similarities and differences in environmental factors, classification of South Asian countries and the legal and institutional framework for corporate financial reporting, this paper also explores the possibilities of regional harmonization. It is observed that the three South Asian countries share similar social, political, economic and other environmental factors. Although greater similarities are observed in areas of financial reporting requirements in company law, minor differences are found in the areas of securities exchange law and the standard-setting processes among the three countries. The paper concludes that the prevailing similarities in political, legal, economic, business ownership, accounting profession, culture and institutional structures in the three countries should have facilitated regional accounting harmonization. However, the accounting professional bodies within each country have adopted IASs as the basis of national accounting standards, mostly driven external investments need and the policies pursued the governments in recent years within the region. Since the South Asian countries are important in the context of global capital markets, this paper will help future researchers and regulatory bodies to understand more clearly the comparative current accounting and reporting regulations within the region.