EU 27 Audit Conference

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I am truly delighted to be here today to participate in this important event. Many thanks to Mr. Ádám Balog, Deputy State Secretary, Ministry for National Economy, and Dr. János Lukács, President, MKVK, for hosting the meeting and inviting me to participate.

As we stand here today, the world is still affected by the financial crisis and the economic environment. Here in Hungary, the government is making strides to cut the budget deficit—and that is very positive. But of course there are countries within the EU and all over the world that are still being affected by the broader global slowdown.

So what can we—what should we—do?

Certainly, significant financial reforms are being considered in different parts of the world. IFAC’s view is that we need to build a sustainable business environment and a strong financial architecture.

Financial infrastructure—in the form of high quality, recognized standards in auditing and assurance, ethics, education, public sector accounting, and related regulation—is the only way that we can achieve broad-based, sustainable economic development.