The Norwegian Accounting Standards Board (NASB)

Name and contact details:

The Norwegian Accounting Standards Board

(Norsk RegnskapsStiftelse (NRS))

P.O. Box 2914 Solli, N – 0230 Oslo

E-mail: nrs [at] revisorforeningen.no

Structure of organization
The NASB is a private body. The founding members of the NASB are:

The founding members name one person each to a Supervisory Board, in addition the Supervisory Board has one independent member. The Supervisory Board has the overall responsibility, and have some administrative duties. The supervisory board elect the members of the Accounting Standards Board and the Technical Committee on IFRS after proposal from an election committee. The election committee consist of 4 members, the chair of the supervisory board, the vice chair of the supervisory board, one member of the Accounting Standards Board who is not on election and one member of the Technical Committee on IFRS who is not on election.

The Accounting Standards Board and the Technical Committe on IFRS each consist of 8-11 members. The Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway and the Ministry of Finance each have one observer at the Accounting Standards Board and the Technical Committee on IFRS.

Chair Accounting Standards Board: Jan Terje Kaaby (BDO, Oslo)
Chair Technical Committee on IFRS: Bjørn Einar Strandberg (PWC, Kristiansand)
Chair Supervisory Board: Per Hanstad (The Norwegian Institute of Public Accountants, Oslo)
Chief Executive: Harald Brandsås (The Norwegian Institute of Public Accountants, Oslo), Tel: + 47 23 36 52 00

NASB have no employees, all work is done on a voluntery basis.

Norwegian Accounting Standards
The NASB publishes:

• Discussion Papers
• Exposure Drafts
• Preliminary Accounting Standards
• Accounting Standards (final)
• Additional guidances and interpretations

All standards (final) are mandatory. All standards must be in compliance with the Norwegian Accounting Act (1998). A preliminary standard, which is the second step from an exposure draft to a final standard, is recommended to be applied.

With the exception of small companies, which can choose to apply a separate standard for SMEs, all companies have to comply with the standards, as described above. A few standards contain paragraphs for certain industries. Charities and other not-for-profit organisasjons also have a separate standard.

Norwegian Bookkeeping Standards
The NASB publishes:

• Bookkeeping Standards
• Statements on generally accepted bookkeeping practice

Funding
The activity is mainly financed by the Conferences and courses that are held. None of the board members are paid for the work.

International Relationships

NASB participates in the Consultative Forum of European Standard Setters of the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG). NRS has regular meetings with other Scandinavian standard setters. NRS provide comment letters to most exposure drafts from the IASB and EFRAG, and host IFRS round tables in Oslo, some with participation from the IASB and with involvement from EFRAG.

Interpretations
 NASB does not operate an urgent issue task force type of activity, but can in certain cases issue interpretations of the standards. NASB does not issue interpretations on IFRS, but may to a litimted degree issue guidance on distinctively Norwegian issues.

Frequently asked questions to the Norwegian Accounting Standards Board in English

Are the Accounting Act, the Accounting Standards, the Bookkeeping Act and the Bookkeeping Standards available in English?

• The Norwegain Accounting Act as of February 2014 has been translated to English and published by Den norske Revisorforening (the Norwegian Institute of Public Accountants). A Limited number of books may still be available for purchase at www.haugenbok.no/Norwegian-accounting-act/I9788270823482
• Regrettably the Norwegian accounting standards have not been translated to English, and are only available in Norwegian. The Accounting Standards in Norwegian are freely available.
• The Norwegian Bookkeeping Act and the statements from the Bookkeeping Standards Board as of February 2014 have been translated to English and published by Den norske Revisorforening. A Limited number of books may still be available for purchase at www.haugenbok.no/Norwegian-bookkeeping-legislation/I9788270823505

What is the use of IFRS in Norway?

• Norwegian listed companies are required to use international accounting standards – IFRS – in the consolidated accounts (in the EU/Norwegian regulation version). If a listed company is not required to issue consolidated accounts, it is required to use IFRS in the separate accounts.
• Otherwise, Norwegain companies are allowed to use IFRS (in the EU/Norwegian regulation version) in the consolidated accounts and separate accounts. Certain entities in the finance sector like banks, insurance companies etc. have industryspecific regulations, which for the most part require such companies the use of IFRS.
• The tax rules in Norway is a separate set of rules, independant from the accounting regulation.
• Because Norway is only part of the European Ecconomic Area, and not the EU, the legal process for the IFRS regulation has an extra layer. The IFRS regulation has to put into force as a part of Norway law. This is done by a separate bylaw (in Norwegian) to the Norwegian Accounting Act. The bylaw currently does not show the IFRS-standards in consolidated text. However:
  • A consolidated version of the IFRS-standards in Norwegian is available in a book published by Fagbokforlaget – ‘IFRS på norsk’. Please see the Bookshop of Fagbokforlaget at haugenbok.no.
  • The companies DIBkunnskap and Gyldendal Rettsdata each has a knowledge database for IFRS. The information is partly in Norwegian and partly in English. Both also include a consolidated version of the IFRS-standards, side by side in Norwegian (EU/Norwegain regulation) and English. For more information, see dib.no and rettsdata.no.
  • IFRS-standards in English is available from IASB.
  • For information about IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) see the Website of the IASB (International Accounting Standards Board). At the Website there is also a section on Frequently Asked Questions related to IASB and IFRS.

Is Norwegian Standard Accounts Specification – Norsk Standard Kontoplan – available in English?

• The Norwegian Standard Accounts Specification (Norsk Standard Kontoplan) is not issued by NASB, but is issued by Norwegian Standardization. Link to webpages of standard.no
• At standard.no, use for instance the search-term: Accounts
• NS 4102:2005.E is the English version of the standard. The standard specifies the income statement and balance sheet formats to be used for annual accounts. It also includes an accounting system with guidelines for preparation of an accounting system for individual enterprises and industries adapted to the income statement and balance sheet formats. The accounting system is designed to provide specifications, whenever possible, for reporting to public institutions, accounting analysis, accounting comparison, etc.
• You find some information on the new SAF-T requirements here (required to be implemented in the systems by 1st January 2020): https://www.skatteetaten.no/en/business-and-organisation/starte-og-drive/rutiner-regnskap-og-kassasystem/saf-t-financial/