The Professional Accountants in Business (PAIB) Committee of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) has issued proposed International Good Practice Guidance titled Predictive Business Analytics: Forward-Looking Measures to Improve Business Performance. The guidance is designed to help professional accountants working in commerce, industry, financial services, education, and the public and not-for-profit sectors, as well as their organizations, embrace predictive analytics to achieve better forward-looking performance insights.

Predictive business analytics help professional accountants anticipate future events, forecast possible outcomes, and select actions and decisions to improve the performance of their organizations in response to changing market and industry dynamics.

“Today, more than ever, professional accountants in business must be capable of assisting their organizations to implement and utilize predictive business analytics,” said Roger Tabor, chair of the PAIB Committee. “The guiding principles steer an organization in executing its strategies and facilitating decision making to improve strategy execution and operations throughout the organization.”

The PAIB Committee undertook this project to help contend with the rising expectations of professional accountants in business. The quality of management information expected by internal business users is expanding, both in terms of the range of data to be considered and the level of required analysis. From strategic issues to routine tasks, all executives, managers, and operational staff expect higher-quality information from professional accountants to support management and organizational decision making.

Professional accountancy organizations and other interest parties are encouraged to respond to the proposed guidance and help improve its applicability to professional accountants in organizations of all sizes.

How to Comment
The PAIB Committee invites all stakeholders to comment. To access the exposure draft and submit a comment, visit Professional Accountants in Business on the IFAC website. Comments on the exposure draft are requested by July 29, 2011.

About the PAIB Committee
The PAIB Committee serves IFAC member bodies and professional accountants worldwide who work in commerce, industry, financial services, education, and the public and the not-for-profit sectors. Its aim is to promote and contribute to the value of professional accountants in business by increasing awareness of the important roles professional accountants play, supporting member bodies in enhancing the competence of their members, and facilitating the communication and sharing of good practices and ideas.

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 164 members and associates in 125 countries and jurisdictions, representing approximately 2.5 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry, and commerce.

The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) today released for public comment proposed revised International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3000, Assurance Engagements Other Than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information.

Proposed ISAE 3000 is a principles-based standard that can be applied effectively to a broad range of assurance engagements. Such engagements may range from assurance on statements about the effectiveness of internal control, for example, to direct engagements such as performance or “value for money” audits, to possible future engagements addressing integrated reporting or corporate social responsibility reporting.

“Proposed ISAE 3000 includes requirements that enable consistent high-quality engagements, while being sufficiently flexible to apply to the broad range of relevant engagements,” noted Prof. Arnold Schilder, IAASB Chairman. “This is an important balance. ISAE 3000 is the overarching standard for current and future topic-specific ISAEs and assurance engagements where no separate ISAE exists. As a result, it needs to be sufficiently robust, yet not so unwieldy as to be impractical to apply. Equally, the ISAE should facilitate innovation in the evolving field of assurance, not act as an impediment.”

Proposed ISAE 3000 covers both reasonable and limited assurance engagements. Among other proposals, the ISAE introduces guidance designed to help readers better understand these two levels of assurance. It also includes guidance addressing direct engagements that have become common in the public sector and have been undertaken increasingly in the private sector. “Since 2003, when the existing standard was approved, practitioners and national standard setters have gained considerable experience with ISAE 3000 that has helped identify a number of opportunities to clarify how some of the core underlying concepts should be applied in practice,” explained James Gunn, IAASB Technical Director.

Proposed ISAE 3000 also includes material from the existing International Framework for Assurance Engagements that is necessary for the ISAE to be understood without reference to the Framework. Accompanying the exposure of the proposed ISAE are also proposed consequential amendments to the Framework reflecting the impact of the proposals in ISAE 3000.

How to Comment
The IAASB invites all stakeholders to comment on its proposals. To access the exposure draft or submit a comment, visit the IAASB’s website at www.iaasb.org/ExposureDrafts.php. Comments on the exposure draft are requested by September 1, 2011.

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 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 164 members and associates in 125 countries and jurisdictions, representing approximately 2.5 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry, and commerce.

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) today released for comment an exposure draft (ED), Key Characteristics of the Public Sector with Potential Implications for Financial Reporting. The paper provides background on issues affecting the development of a conceptual framework for public sector entities and standard setting. In particular, it highlights that public sector entities are likely to depend upon taxation rather than commercially generated profits for their continued existence—and have governance arrangements that generally involve a legislative body holding an executive to account.

The paper is geared toward those who may have limited familiarity with the public sector, particularly those with more experience of financial reporting in the private sector—both for- profit and not-for-profit entities.

One of the main objectives of governments and other public sector entities is to deliver goods and services—not to produce profits, as in the private sector. As a result, there are a large number of financially significant non-exchange transactions in the public sector. These include outflows, such as state pension and social security payments, and inflows from taxation and transfers from other levels of government. However, the paper notes that there are a large number of transactions in the public sector that mirror those in the private sector, and that in such cases, there is no reason why accounting treatments should differ between the two sectors.

The paper also considers the importance of the budget in many jurisdictions. It is often the primary mechanism for communicating with citizens and demonstrating compliance with legal requirements.

Other areas explored include the specialized nature of much of the property, plant, and equipment deployed in the public sector, the regulatory role of government, the responsibilities for a nation’s or area’s heritage, the longevity of most governments and many public sector entities, and the ownership or control of rights to natural resources. The paper also notes that for governments, reporting under statistical bases of accounting is highly important for decision-making purposes and economic analysis.

“When government and public sector financial reporting is mentioned, you often hear a view that the public sector is different; sometimes differences can be exaggerated or underestimated. This exposure draft tries to identify areas that really do need to be considered by standard setters when developing the concepts for public sector financial reporting. We are interested to hear stakeholder views on whether we have identified the right areas,” said IPSASB Chair Andreas Bergmann.

How to Comment
To access the exposure draft or to submit a comment, visit the IFAC website at www.ifac.org/Guidance/EXD-Outstanding.php. Comments on the exposure draft are requested by August 31, 2011. The IPSASB invites all stakeholders to comment on the exposure draft.

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.

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 164 members and associates in 125 countries and jurisdictions, representing approximately 2.5 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry, and commerce.

The program below provides links to speaker biographies, speeches, and presentations from the 2011 IFAC Small and Medium Practices (SMP) Forum held in Istanbul, Turkey, on March 21, 2011. 

The following materials are also available:

• Interviews conducted by SMP Committee Deputy Chair Giancarlo Attolini
• Press release, IFAC Global Forum Highlights Role of SMPs in Partnering with Small Businesses
• Article, "IFAC SMP Forum Unites SMP Community, Facilitates Global Dialogue," on p. 10 of the April 2011 issue of IFAC News

Forum Program

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) published today its 2011 Handbook of International Public Sector Accounting Pronouncements. In two volumes, the Handbook contains all current IPSASB pronouncements, including 31 accrual-based standards and the IPSASB's cash basis standard. The 2011 Handbook incorporates the amendments made as a result of the IPSASB’s 2010 Improvements Project, as well as?at the beginning of each accrual-based standard?a history of the amendments made to that standard.

“The 2011 Handbook provides a comprehensive set of accounting requirements and guidance developed specifically for preparers of public sector financial statements,” said IPSASB Chair Andreas Bergmann. “In addition, the Handbook has been updated to reflect the IPSASB’s Improvements Project, completed in November 2010.”

How to Order
The Handbook can be downloaded in PDF format from the Publications and Resources page of the IFAC website. Print copies of volumes I and II of the Handbook are also available; however, shipping and handling charges apply. Orders can be placed at web.ifac.org/publications or by calling IFAC at +1 (212) 286-9344.

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.

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 164 members and associates in 125 countries and jurisdictions, representing approximately 2.5 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry, and commerce.

In two volumes, the Handbook contains all current IPSASB pronouncements, including 31 accrual-based standards and the IPSASB's cash basis standard.