PART 1: THE AUSTRALIAN ACCOUNTING ENVIRONMENT Chapter 1 An overview of the Australian external reporting environment Review questions 1.1 The main bodies responsible for regulating accounting disclosure in Australia are: (i) Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) On its website, ASIC describes some of its responsibilities as follows: We are an independent Commonwealth Government body. We are set up under and administer the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 (ASIC Act), and we carry out most of our work under the Corporations Act. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 requires us to: • maintain, facilitate and improve the performance of the financial system and entities in it • promote confident and informed participation by investors and consumers in the financial system • administer the law effectively and with minimal procedural requirements • enforce and give effect to the law • receive, process and store, efficiently and quickly, information that is given to us • make information about companies and other bodies available to the public as soon as practicable. The Corporations Act, which is administered by ASIC, requires corporations to comply with accounting standards (as per s. 296 of the Corporations Act). Hence, the law administered by ASIC requires companies and other disclosing entities to comply with the accounting standards issued by the AASB. (ii) Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) The role of the AASB is to develop a conceptual framework. It is also responsible for ‘making’ accounting standards that have the force of law under the corporations legislation, as well as formulating accounting standards that are to be used by reporting entities that are not governed by corporations legislation, inclusive of entities operating in the not-for-profit