The use of IFRS standards in Kazakhstan is mandatory for domestic stock-market listed companies, financial institutions such as banks, as well as large unlisted companies. For domestic public companies, using IFRS standards is permitted but not required.
For foreign listed companies, using IFRS is permitted. Alternatively, those companies can use US GAAP.
Large SMEs must use full IFRS Standards. Medium-sized SMEs may choose either full IFRS Standards or the IFRS for SMEs Standard. Small SMEs have an added choice of national standards.
The authorities that have jurisdiction over IFRS use in Kazakhstan are the Ministry of Finance and the National Bank of Kazakhstan.
IFRS standards continue to become more widespread in developing economies as well. There are some obstacles to their spread though. Most of the time it is difficult to find qualified accountants with experience in IFRS standards in developing economies. This is the case in Kazakhstan as well.
Using IFRS standards requires re-educating accounting professionals that have no experience in them. This is a cost which companies generally don’t want to undertake. Additionally there may be a lack of translation resources for IFRS standards, their terminologies and interpretations from English to local languages which complicate the situation further.
