Accounting Standards : Part 8 : Ind AS 1- Presentation of Financial Statements

Financial statements are not just numbers. They tell a story, and Ind AS 1, Presentation of Financial Statements, is the standard that sets the rules for how that story is told - fairly, clearly, and consistently.

What is Ind AS 1?

It sets the overall requirements for presenting financial statements under Ind AS. It applies to all entities preparing Ind AS financial statements, except where specifically exempted. Its objective is to ensure that financial statements present fairly the entity’s financial position, performance, and cash flows; are comparable across periods and entities; and are understandable, relevant, and faithfully represented.

A complete set includes:

• Balance Sheet: what the entity owns and owes.

• Statement of Profit and Loss (with OCI): how it performed.

• Statement of Cash Flows: where cash came from and where it went.

• Statement of Changes in Equity: how equity moved.

• Notes: policies and supporting detail.

Six general principles:

1) Going concern

2) Accrual basis (except cash flow information)

3) Materiality

4) Aggregation and disaggregation

5) Offsetting - only when Ind AS requires or permits

6) Consistency, including comparatives and a third balance sheet on retrospective restatement

Key requirements:

• Assets and liabilities are classified as current or non-current, using a 12-month or normal operating cycle test (Paras 60–76).

• Financial statements must present fairly, with an explicit statement of compliance with Ind AS (Paras 15–16).

• Disclosures cover material accounting policy information (Para 117), significant judgements and estimates (Para 122), capital management (Paras 134–136) and material going concern uncertainties (Para 25).

• Risk disclosures such as credit, liquidity and market risk sit under Ind AS 107.

The road ahead:

Ind AS 1 is on its way out. Ind AS 118, aligned with IFRS 18, is proposed to replace it from FY 2027-28, subject to final MCA notification. The standard requires companies to classify all income and expenses into five categories: operating, investing, financing, income taxes and discontinued operations.

Two new subtotals are mandated on the face of the Statement of Profit and Loss: operating profit or loss, and profit or loss before financing and income taxes.

It also brings management-defined performance measures, such as adjusted EBITDA, into the audited notes with full reconciliations. It tightens aggregation rules and discourages vague labels like other.

Net profit will not change, but familiar subtotals will. Systems, comparatives and investor communication all need early attention.

At the end - a small suggestion to readers, there are many good books available on Accounting Standards, but make a habit to go through MCA Notified Standards. (Original Text available on MCA Site.)

GST Councils 57th Meeting: From Rates to Trust and Process

GST Councils 57th Meeting: From Rates to Trust and Process

After GST 2.0 reset rates at the 56th meeting, the 57th meeting (8 October 2026, chaired by FM Nirmala Sitharaman) focused on process reform.

Key Highlights:

Enforcement:
• Arrest powers to be withdrawn.
• Prosecution threshold raised from ₹1 crore to ₹5 crore
• Maximum general penalty cut from ₹25,000 to ₹10,000
• Section 132 offences narrowed, with fraudulent ITC (no goods, services or invoice) as the core

Disputes:
• No show cause notice where tax involved is below ₹10,000
• Reduced 5% penalty in non-fraud cases if paid within 30/60 days of the order
• Pre-deposit capped at ₹40 crore for penalty-only appeals
• Circular on quality of notices, fraud invocation and personal hearings

Refunds & ITC:
• Excess cash ledger balance refunded automatically
• 90% provisional refund for zero-rated supplies and inverted duty
• Acknowledgement window cut from 15 to 10 days
• Accumulated ITC refund on input services (inverted duty) from 1 Nov 2026
• Capital goods ITC refund spread over 60 months from 1 Apr 2027
• ITC relaxed for outdoor catering, health and life insurance, telecom towers, pipelines, free samples and expired goods
• Limited same-line-of-business ITC for restaurants, hotels (up to ₹7,500/day) and gyms

Registration & Returns:
• Auto-accepted amendments and system-based cancellation
• Simplified registration for small e-commerce sellers using the platforms warehouse
• New RCM and credit reversal statements, linked with IMS, to cut mismatches (from April 2027 returns)
• Late fee waived for turnover up to ₹5 crore if the return is filed by month-end
• Optional Annual Return Quarterly Payment scheme (in-principle) for B2C businesses up to ₹5 crore

Exports & Logistics:
• Export of services: distinct person condition removed
• E-way bill: interception only on specific intelligence with Joint Commissioner approval, and none in transit states.

PM Narendra Modi also welcomed the Council’s recommendations, saying that removal of arrest provisions, greater decriminalisation and simpler procedures will have a very positive impact. In his words, the focus is clear:

• Faster decisions.
• Lower compliance costs.
• Automated refunds.
• Trust-based administration.

These are in line with our constant efforts to make GST more efficient, transparent and citizen-friendly.

I believe many of these reforms should have been part of the GST System from start. Anyway, Better Late than Never.

Note: These are Council recommendations Only. They will come into effect legally once the necessary amendments to the CGST/IGST Acts and official notifications/circulars are formally enacted. Thanks.

Compliance Calendar for the month of October - 2026

 Dear Friends,

I am pleased to share the Compliance Calendar for October 2026, detailing critical common regulatory and statutory deadlines for the month, covering GST, Income Tax, ROC, PF/ESI, and other key obligations. Please note that the information provided is based on the latest updates available as of today. To ensure full compliance, always cross-verify details through official government and tax portals for any subsequent notifications, circulars, or amendments. Thanks.

#compliancecalendar #october2026 #duedates #GST #incometax

Books Everyone Must Read: Book No.: 28 : 366 Gems from Buddhism

Books Everyone Must Read: Book No.: 28 (Twenty-Eight)

Book: 366 Gems from Buddhism
Author: Robert Van De Weyer
Publisher: Jaico Publishing House
 
This is the 28th book in my "Books Everyone Must Read" series, and I say with full conviction - this one is for everyone. Not just monks. Not just seekers on mountain tops. Not just those wearing saffron robes. This book is for the businessman under pressure, the professional stuck in meetings, the parent exhausted from responsibilities, the student overwhelmed by expectations, the officer confused between right and wrong, and the ordinary human being simply trying to find peace in an extraordinarily noisy world.

366 Gems from Buddhism is a beautifully compiled daily reader - one gem of Buddhist wisdom for each day of the year, including the leap year. Robert Van De Weyer, a scholar and writer deeply familiar with the world's wisdom traditions, has drawn from the vast ocean of Buddhist teachings - the Dhammapada, the Jataka Tales, the words of the Buddha himself, and the reflections of great Buddhist masters across centuries and traditions - and distilled them into short, digestible, yet profoundly deep daily readings.

One of the central teachings of Buddhism, and one that this book returns to again and again in different forms, is the nature of desire. The Buddha taught that suffering - dukkha - arises from craving. Not just craving for material things, but craving for approval, for status, for permanence in a world that is inherently impermanent.

People often confuse detachment with indifference. "If I am detached, do I stop caring about my family? My work? My country?" This is the question I have heard many times, and it is a fair one. The book answers this beautifully. Detachment, in the Buddhist sense, is not about caring less. It is about clinging less.

The heart of Buddhism is meditation. And the heart of this book is returning the reader, daily, to the practice of sitting still, watching the breath, and training the restless, wandering mind to come home to the present moment.

Let me say this clearly - you do not have to be a Buddhist to read this book. The gems in this book speak to universal human struggles - the struggle with anger, with jealousy, with grief, with loneliness, with the fear of failure, with the ego that inflates on good days and collapses on bad ones.

As the Buddha said - and as this book reminds us in many different ways - the mind is everything. What you think, you become.

Highly recommended for everyone - spiritual seekers and pragmatic professionals alike. Whether you are 25 or 65, whether you work in a courtroom or a classroom, whether you are navigating a corporate challenge or a personal crisis - this book will offer you something of genuine value.

Keep Reading. Keep Reflecting. Keep Growing. Thanks.

#Buddhism #Buddha #366GemsFromBuddhism #RobertVanDeWeyer #JaicoPublishingHouse #BooksEveryoneMustRead #Meditation #Books #BookLovers