Essay --

During the early 1970s, formal financial reporting standard setting activities were commenced. On 10 September 1971, a technical committee was formed in 1971 with the remit to act on a letter dated sent by Bank Negara to the President of Malaysian Association of Certified Public Accountants (MACPA). Nowadays, MACPA is now known as Malaysia Institutes of Certified Public Accountants (MICPA). MACPA was set up by individuals as a private association in 1958 (Susela 1999). After an extended pause marked by a high level of inactivity, the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) was approached to develop a standard in 1987. MIA has been set up in 1987 by the State as a statutory body to regulate the accounting profession. Therefore, both MACPA and the MIA committed to a process of joint work towards the objective of the development of a Malaysian accounting standard for goodwill. Based on Ahmad & Ishak (2003), an element of that agreed course of action, on July 1, 1987 the President of MIA and the President of MACPA signed a joint Circular to members enclosing a questionnaire inviting com...