Earlier this week in New York City, the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) held a meeting with representatives of the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) to discuss their processes, achievements and challenges in adopting IFAC's international standards. More than 20 leaders of the accountancy profession, regulators and senior government officials from the BRIC countries attended this milestone event designed to help foster greater collaboration in achieving convergence to the global auditing, ethics and public sector accounting standards established by IFAC's independent standard-setting boards.
Government officials and leaders of the profession in all four countries indicated their commitment to adhering to IFAC standards and recognized that these standards play a vital role in ensuring that professional accountants and governments alike deliver high quality financial information. Each country presented an overview of their convergence plans and identified some of the challenges that they currently face, including capacity development, lengthy legislative processes, complex regulatory environments, and the need for translations of standards.
"We were heartened to learn that all of the participants were convinced that convergence is important for their countries and economies. This is indeed significant as these countries represent half of the world's population and are central to our global economy," states Fermín del Valle, IFAC President.
"We also realize that the road ahead for these countries, and many others in the emerging economies, is not an easy one. Their greatest challenge is moving from convergence to implementation, including remaining up to date on new and revised standards. IFAC is committed to helping these countries and others to meet this challenge," emphasizes Mr. del Valle.
The positive feedback from this meeting has prompted the group to consider setting up communications channels to continue the dialogue on technical and other convergence-related issues. IFAC will continue to support these initiatives and is encouraging other countries that share common interests or work in a shared region to work together on convergence and the implementation of international standards.
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 157 members and associates in 123 countries and jurisdictions, 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.
