Presentation given by Vincent Tophoff, IFAC senior technical manager, during the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan's CFO Conference 2013, CFO: Meeting Future Challenges! In his presentation, Mr. Tophoff discusses current trends and thinking in risk management and best practices.

The revised IES 5, Initial Professional Development—Practical Experience, aims to assist educational organizations, employers, regulators, government authorities, and any other stakeholders who support the practical experience of professional accountants.

The 2014 World Congress of Accountants (WCOA) was held November 10-13 in Rome, Italy, hosted by the Consiglio Nazionale dei Dottori Commercialisti e degli Esperti Contabili (CNDCEC). Find complete information on the Congress site: www.wcoa2014rome.com.

Speeches and Presentations:

• November 10, Gerardo Longobardi, Consiglio Nazionale dei Dottori Commercialisti e degli Esperti Contabili President, Opening Remarks to WCOA
• November 10, Vincenzo La Via, Director General of the Italian Treasury, Opening Remarks to WCOA
• November 10, Warren Allen, Immediate Past IFAC President, Opening Remarks to WCOA
• November 10, Chidi Onyeukwu Ajaegbu, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria President, Opening Remarks to WCOA
• November 13, Ivan Scalfarotto, Undersecratary for Constitutional Affairs and Relations with the Parliament, Closing Remarks to WCOA
• November 13, Ndung'u Gathinji, 2014 Robert Sempier Award Recipient, Acceptance Speech at WCOA
• November 13, Olivia Kirtley, IFAC President, Closing Remarks to WCOA
• November 14, Olivia Kirtley, IFAC President, Remarks to Pope Francis
• November 14, Pope Francis, Address to WCOA Special Papal Audience

The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) today released an online survey seeking public comment, insights, and views from all stakeholders to help shape its future direction for 2015 and beyond. It is seeking the input of interested parties at this early stage to identify key issues for discussion.

“The IAASB understands the importance of addressing matters of global and long-term relevance across the broad range of services covered by its international standards. We also recognize that we need to strike a balance between developing new and revised standards to further enhance practice, and taking steps to support continued global implementation of existing standards, including by small- and medium-sized practices,” said Prof. Arnold Schilder, IAASB Chairman. “Accordingly, this survey asks for views on emerging developments and trends that are likely to be important in the public interest, as well as specific areas of focus for development of standards and related guidance. It also asks for input on the appropriate balance between setting new and revised standards and facilitating their adoption and effective implementation.”

The survey also asks for feedback on the appropriateness of the IAASB changing its future strategy period to five years (2015–2019) instead of three years as it has done in the past. The IAASB believes that extending its strategy period will enable stakeholders to better understand its medium- to longer-term priorities, and provide a suitable context for decisions on specific initiatives. 

Responses to the survey will inform the development of a formal consultation paper on the IAASB’s Strategy and Work Program for the period commencing 2015. The consultation paper is scheduled to be issued in late 2013.

How to Comment
The IAASB invites all stakeholders to complete the online survey. To access the survey, visit the IAASB’s website at www.iaasb.org. Comments are requested by May 7, 2013. Individual responses to the questionnaire will not be on public record. They will be summarized for discussion purposes.

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. It is comprised of 173 members and associates in 129 countries and jurisdictions, representing approximately 2.5 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry, and commerce.

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In its report issued this week, the European Commission found that International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSASs) “represent an indisputable reference for potential EU harmonized public sector accounts.”

The report highlights that harmonized accruals-based government accounting improves transparency, accountability and the comparability of financial reporting in the public sector. Furthermore, a Commission staff working document that accompanied it discusses the advantages of IPSASs, including that “transparency provided by high-quality accruals standards such as IPSASs also provides for better-informed capital markets, in which government financial activity plays a much greater role than is often acknowledged.”

Noting that the present financial crisis has demonstrated that the need to assure financial stability is common to all European Union (EU) countries, the report also states that because “government assets and liabilities are substantial in all EU countries, it is therefore important that they are effectively managed and that governments are accountable for this management to their citizens, their representatives, investors and other stakeholders.”  

Andreas Bergmann, chair of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB), welcomed the report, which proposes that almost half of the existing IPSASs could be implemented as European Public Sector Accounting Standards (EPSASs) with little or no adaptation.

Currently, 15 European Union (EU) Member States incorporate IPSASs to some extent, with nine of these having national standards based on or in line with IPSASs.

“The adoption of accrual accounting by EU Member States would represent a historic step in the direction of achieving governmental transparency and serving the public interest,” Bergmann said. “Developing high-quality accounting standards like the IPSASs will require a rigorous process to ensure the EPSASs are of the same caliber. The IPSASB offers the EU’s public sector accounting authorities its full cooperation and resources in producing, adopting, and implementing EPSASs.”

The European Commission’s report will be followed by a conference, “Towards Implementing European Public Sector Accounting Standards,” to be held May 29-30 in Brussels.

About the IPSASB
The IPSASB develops accounting standards and guidance for use by public sector entities. The structures and processes that support the operations of the IPSASB are facilitated by IFAC. The IPSASB receives support (both direct financial and in-kind) from the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, and the governments of Canada, China, New Zealand, and Switzerland.

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 173 members and associates in 129 countries and jurisdictions, representing approximately 2.5 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry, and commerce.

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The International Federation of Accountants today praised the G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors for addressing government borrowing and public debt sustainability at their recent meeting. It also applauded the European Commission (EC) report, issued this week, which called for “harmonized public sector accruals-based accounting standards” as a tool to build trust and financial stability.

IFAC CEO Fayez Choudhury said the two actions “provided an important impetus for transparent, comprehensive, reliable, and comparable public sector financial reporting.”

The G-20 recap and communiqué state that “(i)n pursuit of our goal of strengthening the public sector balance sheet, work is needed to better assess risks to public debt sustainability. This includes, inter alia, taking into account country-specific circumstances, looking at transparency and comparability of public sector reporting, and monitoring the impact of financial sector vulnerabilities on public debt.” It calls on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank to further explore the issue and provide updates. Prior to the G-20 meeting, outgoing IFAC CEO Ian Ball addressed “The G-20 Agenda under the Russian Chairmanship,” organized by the Institute of International Finance and the Russian Federation Ministry of Finance, where he called on Russia to use its G-20 Presidency to strengthen global financial stability by supporting adoption and implementation of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSASs).

The EC report states that “(t)he sovereign debt crisis has underlined the need for governments to clearly demonstrate their financial stability and for more rigorous and more transparent reporting of fiscal data.” It underscores the need for international comparability, as well as governments’ public interest obligation to owners of government debt securities, potential investors, citizens, and other stakeholders, to provide timely, reliable, and comparable information on their financial performance and position, in the same way that listed companies have obligations to equity market participants.

In addition, it recognizes IPSASs as the only internationally recognized set of public-sector accounting standards, and their foundation in the International Financial Reporting Standards, which are widely applied by the private sector.

“While there has been some progress on reforming public sector financial management and adopting accrual accounting and IPSASs, we need to quicken the pace of change,” Choudhury said. “IFAC’s efforts are strengthened when global organizations like the G-20, EC, IMF, and World Bank show leadership in this area.” 

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 173 members and associates in 129 countries and jurisdictions, representing approximately 2.5 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry, and commerce.

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The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), the global organization for the accountancy profession with 173 members and associates in 129 countries, today released the results of its 2012 IFAC Global Leadership Survey of the Accountancy Profession.

The survey elicited respondents’ opinions regarding perceptions of the accountancy profession and the most significant issues facing global accountancy in 2013. Of the 22 issues that were presented for consideration, respondents identified five top concerns: the needs of small- and medium-sized practices and small- and medium-sized entities; the reputation and credibility of the profession; issues related to the European Union (EU) draft legislation; public sector financial management and sovereign debt issues; and the difficult global financial climate.

“The sovereign debt crisis and the current financial climate have contributed greatly to the changing role of the accountancy profession,” said IFAC Chief Executive Officer Fayez Choudhury. “Professional accountants are now more visible, and the profile and responsibility of the profession will only continue to grow. Similar to last year, respondents continue to express their view that IFAC should seek to maintain and improve the public’s perceived views of the accountancy profession; reputation and credibility of the global profession was ranked as one of the most significant issues for 2013.”

About the Survey
The 2012 IFAC Global Leadership Survey of the Accountancy Profession asked officers (most frequently presidents and chief executive officers) from IFAC’s member bodies, associates, affiliates, regional accountancy organizations and acknowledged accountancy groupings, and Forum of Firms members a variety of questions regarding the accountancy profession. The survey results include data from 113 respondents from 72 countries and jurisdictions who took the survey from October 10, 2012 to December 10, 2012.

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 173 members and associates in 129 countries and jurisdictions, representing approximately 2.5 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry, and commerce.

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Key concerns cover a range of topics, including the needs of small- and medium-sized practices and small- and medium-sized entities; the reputation and credibility of the profession; issues related to the European Union (EU) draft legislation; public sector financial management and sovereign debt issues; and the difficult global financial climate. 

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) welcomes the G-20 Finance Ministers’ and Central Bank Governors’ decision to address “transparency and comparability of public sector reporting” in the final communiqué issued for their February 15-16 meeting.

The G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors called on the IMF and the World Bank to further explore the issue and provide appropriate updates, declaring that “strengthening the public sector balance sheet is needed to better assess risks to public debt sustainability.”

“We are very encouraged by these developments, as we had anticipated the G-20 under Russia’s leadership would view improved public sector financial management as a priority,” said IPSASB Chair Andreas Bergmann. “The IPSASB looks forward to continuing its constructive dialogue and cooperative efforts with the G20, the IMF, and the World Bank.”

The IPSASB has been setting standards for financial reporting of governments since 2001. Currently, it has published a complete suite of 32 standards for the accrual basis of accounting, as well as one cash basis standard for countries preparing for the move to accruals. Nearly 80 countries and many international governmental organizations, including the United Nations, NATO, OECD, the European Commission, and ASEAN, are currently using or have firm plans to use the standards.

More information can be found in the Feb. 16 news article, “The first G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Banks Governors' Meeting took place in Moscow,” which includes a link to the communiqué.

About the IPSASB
The IPSASB develops accounting standards and guidance for use by public sector entities. The structures and processes that support the operations of the IPSASB are facilitated by IFAC. The IPSASB receives support (both direct financial and in-kind) from the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the United Nations, and the governments of Canada, China, New Zealand, and Switzerland.

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 173 members and associates in 129 countries and jurisdictions, representing approximately 2.5 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry, and commerce.

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