Baudouin Griton, a French certified public accountant, is technical advisor to Hervé-Adrien Metzger. He previously served as technical advisor to Mr. Metzger’s predecessors since 2009.

Mr. Griton is an audit partner with KPMG France, where he has been working in the Infrastructure and Government sector for more than twenty years. He is the partner in charge of the audit of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures’ Financial Statements and Pension scheme, an international organization located in Paris that prepares its financial statements using IPSASs, as well as the signing partner of a couple of the largest listed company in France.

Since 2007, he has also been a member of the working group in charge of translating IPSAS Standards into French. Mr. Griton additionally serves as a member of numerous working groups of the CNoCP (the French Public Sector Accounting Standard Setter) and is a member of the KPMG International IPSAS panel.

In previous roles, Mr. Griton has led PCAOB Standards for seven years, US GAAP and GAAS doctrine department of his firm, and served as lead partner on major international French listed groups. He has experience as MBA professor with the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris, Deputy Chief Editor of the monthly review of the French founding member organization of the International Association of Financial Executive Institutes, and has authored multiple articles on accountancy and auditing. 

Mr. Griton is a graduate of the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris of France and of the University of Paris in Economics.

As the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) undertakes work that has the potential to shape the future of financial reporting across the globe, the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) have collaborated to encourage engagement and debate.

The joint IFAC/ICAS paper, Do We Need a Roadmap for Financial Reporting?, seeks to align the theoretical considerations with the practical ones, and generate debate and discussion that can assist the IASB as it begins to consider revisions to the existing Conceptual Framework. The IASB issued a Discussion Paper exploring possible changes to the IASB’s Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting in July 2013. The comment period ended on January 14, 2014 and an exposure draft is expected to be published later this year. The IFAC/ICAS paper has been prepared to complement the individual comment letters that both IFAC and ICAS submitted to the IASB.

In the paper, IFAC and ICAS raise some fundamental questions and issues that should be considered by the IASB, including:

• Who are financial statements for?
• What is the purpose of financial statements?
• What role should the Conceptual Framework serve?
• What items should be included in assets and liabilities?
• What does ‘financial performance’ mean?

“These questions get right to the heart of how companies communicate with the financial markets,” said Fayez Choudhury, CEO of IFAC. “The basic building blocks of financial statements have existed for decades and it is important to undertake a serious assessment of whether they remain fit for purpose.”

Anton Colella, CEO of ICAS, said, “The Conceptual Framework sets the direction of travel for financial reporting globally.  The IASB has stated that it will focus on ‘updating, improving and filling in gaps’ of the current Framework. Our overarching question is: is this sufficient or do we need a more fundamental re-think?”

The paper does not contain answers to all of these difficult questions, but aims to stimulate the debate and encourage those with a stake in financial reporting to engage and assist the IASB with its endeavour.

About ICAS
ICAS is a leading professional body for Chartered Accountants (CAs), with over 20,000 members worldwide. ICAS is an educator, regulator and thought leader.  

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 179 members and associates in 130 countries and jurisdictions, representing approximately 2.5 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry, and commerce.

Notes
The IFAC/ICAS paper, Do we need a roadmap for financial reporting? Developing the IASB’s Conceptual Framework, is available from the ICAS website at www.icas.org.uk/icas-ifac-roadmap and from the IFAC website at www.ifac.org/publications-resources/do-we-need-roadmap-financial-reporting.

Further information on the IASB’s Conceptual Framework project and the Discussion Paper: A Review of the Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting is available at www.ifrs.org/Current-Projects/IASB-Projects/Conceptual-Framework/Pages/Conceptual-Framework-Summary.aspx.

IFAC and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) have collaborated on this paper in order to highlight some of the key issues to be considered in developing the International Accounting Standards Board’s (IASB)’s Conceptual Framework. The IASB initiative, in taking forward the difficult challenge of reviewing and updating its conceptual framework, is welcomed. IFAC and ICAS believe that it is important to engage all financial reporting stakeholders in the debate on the Conceptual Framework, as this will potentially become the roadmap for future financial reporting.

IES 4 prescribes the learning outcomes for professional values, ethics, and attitudes that aspiring professional accountants are required to demonstrate by the end of Initial Professional Development. Professional values, ethics, and attitudes are defined as the behavior and characteristics that identify professional accountants as members of a profession. These include the ethical principles generally associated with, and considered essential in defining, the distinctive characteristics of professional behavior.

IES 3 prescribes the learning outcomes for professional skills that aspiring professional accountants are required to demonstrate by the end of Initial Professional Development. Professional skills are the (a) intellectual, (b) interpersonal and communication, (c) personal, and (d) organizational skills that a professional accountant integrates with technical competence and professional values, ethics, and attitudes to demonstrate professional competence.

IES 3 is effective from July 1, 2015.