BCC migrating to international accounting standards

By Silas Nkala | Jun. 13, 2023

BULAWAYO City Council (BCC)

BULAWAYO City Council (BCC) is adopting the Zimbabwe Financial Reporting Manual (ZFRM) for the public sector that will see it migrate to the accrual based International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) framework by December 2025.

This was revealed in the latest council minutes in which the council’s department of finance reported last month that the ongoing project for the migration to the accrual-based IPSAS framework by December 2025, formed part of wider government Public Finance Management reforms and was aimed at enhancing transparency and accountability.

“This was consistent with the principles of public financial management in section 298 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, which required transparency and accountability in financial matters as well as responsible and clear financial management and fiscal reporting.

“The manual was expected to guide the implementation of IPSAS by providing local interpretations and clarifying options thereby ensuring consistency of application of the various standards by reporting entities,” the council minutes read.

Zimbabwe adopted IPSAS as a reporting framework after the gazzeting of Statutory Instrument 41 of 2019 on Public Accountants and Auditors (Prescription of International Standards) Regulations.

“The key objective of the ZFRM is to provide local interpretation and guidance in the implementation of the IPSAS framework by reporting entities in Zimbabwe,” the minutes say.

All reporting entities are required to migrate to the IPSAS framework by 2025 and produce IPSAS compliant financial statements.

“It was resolved to recommend that council adopts the Zimbabwe Financial Reporting Manual for Public Sector as a policy documentguiding it in reporting financial information,” the minutes added.