Proposed New Accounting Reporting Standards Will Impact On Telecoms Sector

Imminent changes to revenue recognition standards will have far-reaching cost implications for the telecommunications sector, among others. Some impacts will involve greater expenditure in recording revenues, the need to upgrade accounting and reporting systems and the need to train staff involved in reporting revenue streams in the mobile and fixed-line telephony sectors.

"These are some of the basic consequences of the proposed new accounting standard for recognising revenue in the telecoms sector," says Johan Smith, Head of Telecommunications at KPMG. "Although not applicable yet, the proposed standard may have to be implemented retrospectively and entities in the telecommunications sector would do well to prepare for the effective date."