[caption id="attachment_92389" align="alignnone" width="300"] Finance Minister, Patrick Chinamasa[/caption] LOCAL pension funds have departed from an outdated method of accounting for investment assets as stipulated in the Pension and Provident Funds Act, a member of the insurance and pensions subcommittee at the Institute of Charted accountants of Zimbabwe (ICAZ) has revealed. Hope Mulilo, an expert in Audit, International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), pensions and Social Security, said the industry had adopted “fair value” recognition of assets over the less appropriate “cost” treatment which is required by the Act which was gazetted in 1991. She said recognition of assets using the “cost” method often results in discrepancies in valuation. “The Pension and Provident Funds Act (Chapter 24:09) requires assets to be recognised…