Australian government releases digital currency guidance white paper, seeks to create international accounting standards for Bitcoin (full text download)

The Australian government’s financial reporting standards body is pushing for international action on the digital currency sector.

The Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB), the government body responsible for overseeing reporting standards in the country, has released a new positioning white paper ahead of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) member meeting in December. The white paper argues for the need to create a clearer standard for digital currencies and other types of intangible assets.

The issue of accounting standards for digital currencies has been raised before, but the AASB’s white paper may be the most fruitful yet. The release of the white paper comes as the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) seeks user records from digital currency exchange Coinbase.

According to the AASB white paper, accountants need "clear" guidance when working with individuals or businesses dealing with digital currencies.

The white paper, author Henri Venter, a director at Deloitte, wrote:

“In our view, given the issues that have been identified and the rapid growth of digital currencies, there is a need to set standards to provide clear accounting guidance and ensure that financial statements provide relevant and useful information to users.”

However, the white paper argues that this measure only solves part of the problem. The core of the problem lies in the lack of in-depth standards for so-called "intangible assets", including digital assets.

The white paper states:

“…there are currently no accounting standards that address investments in intangible assets or other commodity-type assets. Therefore, we recommend that the IASB develop a standard that will address the accounting for investments in intangible assets and commodities.”

The Accounting Standards Advisory Forum under the IASB has planned to hold a meeting in London on December 8 and 9. According to the document released by the IASB, members will provide advice on creating standards for digital currencies.