At its Council and Board meetings in Mexico City last week, the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) announced new resources to support professional accountants working in small and medium practices (SMPs) and approved a policy paper outlining its position on professional regulation. IFAC also approved three new associates and a new affiliate and announced the appointment of five new members to its Board.
To mark the 30th anniversary of IFAC’s founding, a special anniversary seminar was held during the Council meeting on the topic of The Financial Reporting Environment in the 21st Century. More than 200 individuals from IFAC member bodies and the Mexican accountancy profession attended the seminar, which addressed such topics as business reporting models of the future, the state of public sector financial reporting, and effective regulation. Speeches and presentations made at the seminar will be available on the IFAC website (http://www.ifac.org) in the coming weeks.
New Guide to Applying International Standards to SME Audits
At the Council meeting, IFAC SMP Committee Chair Sylvie Voghel reported that the committee had completed its review of new guidance to assist SMPs and other practitioners in delivering high quality audits of small and medium entities (SMEs). The new implementation guidance, Guide to Using ISAs in the Audit of Small- and Medium-sized Entities, is in the production stages and will be available in early December. The guide, developed by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants on IFAC’s behalf, is designed to support SMPs and other practitioners in applying International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) to audits of SMEs.
Establishing Accountancy Bodies
During the meeting, IFAC also released a 2007 edition of its good practice guidance on establishing and developing professional accountancy organizations. This updated and expanded toolkit, entitled Establishing and Developing a Professional Accountancy Body, addresses the roles and responsibilities of a professional accountancy body, education and examination, and capacity development. It also includes new guidance on enhancing the public sector focus of the profession. French, Russian and Spanish translations of the guidance are also available from the bookstore. The toolkit is available in downloadable format and on CD-ROM from the IFAC online bookstore (http://www.ifac.org/store).
Professional Regulation
The Board approved an IFAC position on professional regulation. The paper formalizes its view that professional accountancy bodies and governments share a common objective of ensuring that professional accountants serve the public interest and meet high standards in the quality of the services they provide and that both professional accountancy organizations and governments need to work together to ensure an effective and efficient regulatory mix. The paper will be posted to the IFAC website in the next few weeks.
New IFAC Associates and Affiliate
The Council accepted three new organizations as associates of IFAC:
- Cayman Islands Society of Professional Accountants;
- Mauritius Institute of Professional Accountants; and
- Ordre National des Experts Comptables et Comptables Agréés du Sénégal.
In addition, the Council accepted the Nederlandse Orde van Register EDP-Auditors as an affiliate.
New IFAC Board Members Appointed
The IFAC Council also approved the nomination of five new members to the IFAC Board to serve three-year terms. They are Luiz Carlos Vaini of Brazil, Abdeljelil Bouraoui of Tunisia, Japheth Katto of Uganda, Robert Hodgkinson of the United Kingdom, and Olivia Kirtley of the United States. In addition, the IFAC Council approved the reappointment of two IFAC Board members for a second term: Roberto D’Imperio of Italy and Göran Tidström of the Nordic Federation. A complete list of the members of the November 2007 to November 2008 IFAC Board is available as an appendix to this release.
About IFAC
Founded in 1977, IFAC is the global organization for the accountancy profession dedicated to serving the public interest by strengthening the profession and contributing to the development of strong international economies. IFAC is comprised of 158 members and associates in 123 countries, representing more than 2.5 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry and commerce. Through its independent standard-setting boards, IFAC sets international ethics, auditing and assurance, education, and public sector accounting standards. It also issues guidance to encourage high quality performance by professional accountants in business.
IFAC Board (November 2007 – November 2008)
Fermín del Valle, President
Robert Bunting, Deputy President
United States
Joycelyn Morton, Australia
Luiz Carlos Vaini, Brazil
Kevin Dancey, Canada
Sylvie Voghel, Canada
Yugui Chen, China
William Nahum, France
Norbert Pfitzer, Germany
Kamlesh Vikamsey, India
Bernadette McGrory-Farrell, Ireland
Roberto D’Imperio, Italy
Gen Ikegami, Japan
Roberto Resa, Mexico
Ingrid Doerga, Netherlands
Warren Allen, New Zealand
Göran Tidström, Nordic Federation
Abdeljelil Bouraoui, Tunisia
Japheth Katto, Uganda
Robert Hodgkinson, United Kingdom
David Leonard, United Kingdom
Olivia Kirtley, United States