Finding Your Voice: PAOs, Advocacy, and Public Policy

The voice of your professional accountancy organization (PAO) matters.

The accountancy profession is most successful and sustainable with the support of healthy national and regional professional accountancy organizations (PAOs) that have robust, effective relationships with their national and regional stakeholders, including government and regulators.

The success of any PAO relies in large part on its ability to effectively communicate, and demonstrate, its relevance to society. This begins early in a PAO’s development with promotion of:

• the need for a structured profession with a commitment to the public interest;
• a PAO as the profession’s cornerstone, educating, training, and overseeing competent and ethical professional accountants; and
• accountants who demonstrate trust, integrity, and credibility.

This guidance will assist PAOs in the early stages of development to establish or advance their advocacy and public policy efforts, while taking into account that PAOs may have varying levels of resources, support, staffing, and volunteers.

As the global body for the accountancy profession, IFAC regularly engages with PAOs around the world, and is in a unique position to share good practices based on real PAO experiences. The context each PAO operates in is unique; the principles in this guidance can and should be tailored to your individual circumstances.

The overarching goal is to help your PAO enhance trust and credibility among your stakeholders—members and civil society—to create an environment in which professional accountants are listened to, can speak out on topical societal issues, and are seen as an integral, respected, and contributing part of society.