Sanjay Rughani serves as the Chair of the IFAC Professional Accountants in Business Advisory Group, having been nominated in June 2015 by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).

Mr. Rughani is the CEO for Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) in Uganda, and prior to this was the CEO for SCB in Tanzania.  He joined Standard Chartered Bank in 1999 and has held various key positions with the bank which include Interim Head - Global Finance Shared Services (FSSC), Head of Finance Operations & Change Management – Africa, Executive Director Finance for Ghana and Area CFO (Ghana, Gambia, Sierra Leone and Cote d'Ivoire), Executive Director Finance for SCB Tanzania and Regional Finance Manager for Africa based out of London, UK.

Mr. Rughani's professional credentials and qualifications include being a Chartered Accountant through NBAA Tanzania, an ACCA member, MBA in Finance, a Fellow of Institute of Information Management Africa (Nigeria), Management post-graduation in HRD and a Bachelor of Commerce. He is also a qualified trainer and sponsor of the HIV and AIDS program for Standard Chartered Bank. He is passionate about and supports initiatives which increase capacity for the finance profession and human capacity, particularly in Africa.

In addition to his role on the IFAC PAIB Advisory Group, Mr. Rughani's various governance representations include: Chairman of CEO Round Table Tanzania, Vice Chairperson for Tanzania Bankers Association (TBA), Non-Executive Director of Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF), Executive Member of Tanzania National Business Council (TNBC), Trustees of UDOM Endowment Fund and Non-Executive Director Association of Tanzanian Employers (ATE). His past engagements include: founding member of FSSC forum in Kenya, Non-executive Director Standard Chartered Bank Uganda, past Chairman of Ghana Business Coalition against HIV & AIDS (GBCA) and past President of Lincoln Community School (American International School in Ghana).

A Tanzanian national, Mr. Rughani is married and has two children. 

Launched last year by the International Federation of Accountants^® (IFAC^®), the Global Knowledge Gateway^™ is a global hub for accountancy news, views, resources, and thought leadership from around the world. The Gateway now includes hundreds of original articles, brings together thousands of carefully selected resources and news items, and is growing daily.

Who should visit the Gateway? The Gateway is a place for professional and aspiring professional accountants, including students, and those working in business and practices of all sizes to:

• Access practical resources from around the world;
• Learn about emerging areas of the profession, like integrated reporting and Islamic finance;
• Stay connected to the most pressing accountancy issues and news of the day; and
• Interact by exchanging views, making recommendations, and sharing what they find with their own social networks. 

What’s New? If you haven’t visited the Gateway recently, it’s time for another look. Late last year, IFAC added a tenth topic area, Islamic finance, to increase awareness of the ethical principles, standards, and regulation around this rapidly growing area. In addition, the website is now completely mobile friendly for viewing on any tablet or mobile device. And, with the addition of Google Translate (in the upper right corner of the site), the entire IFAC website is now available in 80 languages.

In 2015, IFAC anticipates an increase in multimedia resources, such as videos and podcasts. Several videos are currently in production, including a three-part series with futurist James Canton. See Part I, “Create an Innovative Culture by Looking Outside the Profession.”

Your Portal to the Rest of the World In the Gateway, you will discover documents, reports, videos, audio, and links to hundreds of websites. All content is indexed by an easy-to-use search engine, and resources can be filtered by sub-topic, type, and source. In addition, you can engage in conversation forums and blogs to exchange views with professionals and experts around the world. Register to suggest and recommend content, join discussions, and subscribe to The Latest, our customizable, twice-monthly update on recently added content.

What Can You Learn on the Gateway?

The Gateway offers a mixture of expert opinions, thought leadership, technical guidance, and much more. It is organized around ten topic areas, including Audit & Assurance,  Ethics, Performance & Financial Management, Practice Management, and Risk Management & Internal Control.

The Gateway provides accounting professionals with practical information they can use to help them in their day-to-day business challenges, for example:

• Best Practices—Learn how businesses are managing their operations and delivering services in a profitable way.
• How-to Guidance—Gain insights into how professional standards and methodologies are being applied by experts and authorities in the field.
• Trends in the Accounting Profession and the Marketplace—Gain ongoing awareness about changes in technology, risks and opportunities, economic factors impacting the profession, and the regulatory environment.
• Content Development—Access a rich source of subject matter and research to include in presentations and speeches.
• Networking—Use the Gateway’s discussions as a way to engage in peer-to-peer contact and relationship building.
• Professional Awareness for Students—Use the Gateway as a study aid or research tool; it’s a convenient portal for students and those preparing themselves to enter the profession to access introductory resources and links to authoritative institutions

Register to get the most out of the Gateway and start building your knowledge and exploring the Gateway’s myriad features today.

The International Federation of Accountants^® (IFAC^®), the global organization for the accountancy profession with members and associates in 130 countries, recently joined a multi-disciplinary group at the CESifo Institute in Munich, Germany, to share past lessons of over-borrowing and default, and analyze present weaknesses in sovereign debt management. The discussion was timely in light of Greece’s debt crisis.

The participants―accountants, economists, finance specialists, lawyers, statisticians, and representatives of academia, business, governments, international organizations, and think tanks—held varied views on how to resolve Greece’s debt crisis.

IFAC supports the argument that Greece must build trust and confidence with all stakeholders by making transparency and accountability its most urgent and important reform. Whether the issue is political, economic, or social—accounting matters, and starting with the right numbers is essential to assessing the economic and financial consequences of alternative solutions. Thus, a fresh start for Greece should begin with government financial information based on accrual-based International Public Sector Accounting Standards^™.

To support greater awareness of the need for higher quality government financial reporting, IFAC has convened the broad-based Accountability. Now. coalition. Coalition member organizations believe there is a better way forward for governments of all sizes and it starts with equipping governments with the foundation for good financial management: transparent, accountable financial information.

About Accountability. Now.
Accountability. Now. represents a coalition of organizations that believe there’s a better way forward for governments of all sizes. It starts with equipping governments with the foundation for good financial management: transparent, accountable financial information that: captures the entire picture of funding commitments, now and in the future; facilitates wise spending; strengthens economies; and builds trust with their citizens. Better quality financial information and increased transparency won’t solve all the challenges of governing, but they will greatly assist government decision making and performance.

About IFAC
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. It is comprised of more than 175 members and associates in 130 countries and jurisdictions, representing approximately 2.8 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry, and commerce.

The Integrated Reporting Working Group of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board^® (IAASB^®) has released a publication, Exploring Assurance on Integrated Reporting and Other Emerging Developments in External Reporting, to inform stakeholders about the board’s ongoing work in this area.

The publication’s release coincides with the issuance of the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC)’s Overview of Feedback and Call for Action. The IAASB commends the IIRC for furthering the debate on assurance on integrated reporting, and has been actively engaged with the IIRC in events supporting its 2014 consultation.

“The IAASB is committed to ensuring that its standards address the stakeholders’ emerging needs for assurance services and has been monitoring demand for assurance on integrated reporting for some time,” said Prof. Arnold Schilder, IAASB Chairman. “The IIRC’s work to develop its International <IR> Framework and the feedback from its public consultation is invaluable to the IAASB as it continues to consider how best to respond in the public interest to integrated reporting and other emerging developments in external reporting.”

The IAASB’s Integrated Reporting Working Group was initially formed to monitor the demand for assurance engagements on integrated reporting. The focus of the Working Group includes initial thinking on the nature of such engagements, the scope of the subject matter information and the suitability of criteria, and other matters related to assurance, including the IAASB’s existing assurance standards.

“The IAASB has an open mind as to the way forward and recognizes that other emerging developments in external reporting are equally relevant to its considerations,” said Merran Kelsall, IAASB member and Integrated Reporting Working Group Chair. “The Working Group will continue to engage with stakeholders and facilitate the IAASB’s debates to inform the development of a Discussion Paper exploring assurance issues in greater depth, including how practitioners are innovating to meet the needs of investors and other preparers and users of external reporting.”

For more information and updates on the project, visit the IAASB’s project page at www.iaasb.org/auditing-assurance/projects/integrated-reporting-working-group

About the IAASB
The IAASB develops auditing and assurance standards and guidance for use by all professional accountants under a shared standard-setting process involving the Public Interest Oversight Board, which oversees the activities of the IAASB, and the IAASB Consultative Advisory Group, which provides public interest input into the development of the standards and guidance. The structures and processes that support the operations of the IAASB are facilitated by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC).

About IFAC^®
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 over 175 members and associates in 130 countries and jurisdictions, representing approximately 2.8 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry, and commerce.

The purpose of this publication, prepared by the Integrated Reporting Working Group, is to inform stakeholders about the IAASB’s ongoing work to explore assurance on integrated reporting and other emerging developments in external reporting.

It explains that the IAASB established the Integrated Reporting Working Group to inform the IAASB as to how and when to respond to these developments most effectively in the public interest, and outlines the group’s activities.