1. New Exposure Draft and Consultation Papers Issued by IAASB and IPSASB 
 

Please see the Open Consultations and Exposure Drafts section below for more details.

 

IFAC has selected Fayezul (Fayez) Choudhury as its new CEO. He will succeed current Chief Executive Officer Ian Ball, whose contract is set to expire in February 2013. Mr. Choudhury was previously with the World Bank, where his last two assignments were as Vice President, Corporate Finance and Risk Management; and Controller and Vice President, Strategic Planning and Resource Management. In the latter role, he was the World Bank's spokesperson on global accounting and auditing issues. Please see the press release for more information. Look for an interview with Mr. Choudhury in the next issue of IFAC News. Register and subscribe here.

 

IFAC issued Position Paper 5, A Definition Of The Public Interest. The paper, which presents a practical definition of the public interest, was developed in the context of IFAC’s mission, to enable IFAC to assess the extent to which its actions and decisions are made in the public interest. 

 

IFAC recently announced the appointment of Jörgen Holmquist as the first independent chair of the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA), beginning September 2012 for a three-year term. Mr. Holmquist has been a public member of the IESBA since 2011. He served as Director General, DG Internal Market and Services, European Commission from 2007 to 2010, where he was responsible for developing the European Union regulatory response to the financial crisis, including legislation and policy concerning accounting and auditing. Look for an interview with Mr. Holmquist in the next issue of IFAC News. Register and subscribe here.

 

The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) recently released its 2011 Annual Report, Ethics for the Global Accounting Profession—Building on the Groundwork. The report describes the IESBA’s commitment to developing high-quality international ethics standards for the global accountancy profession as presented in the Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants. It emphasizes the board’s long-term objective of facilitating the convergence of national and international ethics standards and ongoing work to support their consistent implementation. The report summarizes the progress made on the IESBA's 2011 Work Plan, and looks forward to 2012, outlining the board’s plans to add additional workstreams (summarized in a Staff Update) to its 2012 Work Plan in response to matters under consideration by the European Commission, US Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, and others.

 

The Professional Accountants in Business (PAIB) Committee has released new International Good Practice Guidance, Evaluating and Improving Internal Control in Organizations. The guidance highlights areas where the practical application of existing internal control standards and frameworks often fail in many organizations. It will assist professional accountants in business as they work with their organizations to continuously evaluate and improve internal control and ensure that it is an integrated part of the organization’s systems of governance and risk management. Better integrated internal controls can save organizations time and money while helping to create and preserve value.

 

The 2012 Handbook of International Public Sector Accounting Pronouncements is now available online and includes both new and revised standards. The 2012 Handbook of International Quality Control, Auditing, Review, Other Assurance, and Related Services Pronouncements and the 2012 Handbook of the Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants will be available in July and are currently available for pre-order. The International Accounting Education Standards Board is not issuing a new handbook in 2012.

 

• Arabic—Guide to Quality Control for Small- and Medium-Practices, Third Edition (2011)

 

IFAC President Göran Tidström and Chief Executive Officer Ian Ball traveled to the Stockholm School of Economics June 13 to commemorate the 100th year of the Authorized Public Accountant in Sweden. Both were featured speakers at the event, which was presented by FAR, the Swedish professional institute for authorized public accountants. Mr. Tidström’s remarks focused on “The Role of the Accountant in Today’s Globalized but Still Diversified Economy” and Mr. Ball presented “The Future of Reporting to Stakeholders.” Mr. Tidström began his accounting career as a student at the Stockholm School of Economics and told the audience, “It was not until I was privileged to work on the global level with IFAC that I realized the major importance of our profession—and that was in spite of the fact that I have been a leader of a major big-firm practice for many years.” In Mr. Ball’s speech, he explained that “qualitative reporting, such as integrated reporting, will provide a clearer and more strategic picture of the ability of an organization to create and sustain value today and in the long term.”

 

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Caribbean’s (ICAC) recent conference (June 21-23) featured IFAC Deputy President Warren Allen as one of its keynote speakers both during its general session and at a meeting of Regional Professional Accountancy Organizations (PAOs) of the Caribbean, co-sponsored by IFAC. Topics discussed with PAOs included IFAC’s relationship with Acknowledged Accountancy Groupings such as ICAC and opportunities for collaboration on common challenges. “In the 24 years since ICAC’s formation, accountancy and business have undergone dramatic changes,” Mr. Allen said in his remarks. “Together, IFAC, ICAC, and the Caribbean accountancy profession will help write the next quarter-century of business history for the region and beyond.” Mr. Allen’s presentation is available online. 

 

IFAC recently participated in the 6th Cross-Border Meeting, The Role and Responsibilities of Professional Associations in the Regulation of the Accountancy Profession, in Chisinau, Republic of Moldova, which gathered 10 professional accountancy organizations (PAOs) from the Central and East European region. Szymon Radziszewicz, senior technical manager, Member Body Development, spoke at the event, addressing the applicability framework of the IFAC Statements of Membership Obligations and need for a balanced approach in regulation of the accountancy profession, as well as the how the accountancy profession contributes to economic stability and growth. Representatives from the World Bank, Fédération Internationale des Experts-Comptables Francophones, and PAOs in Belgium and the Netherlands also spoke. While in Moldova, Mr. Radziszewicz also met with the Minister of Finance and Audit Oversight Council to discuss different scenarios for regulation of the accountancy profession in Moldova.

 

The CReCER 2012 Conference, Quality Financial Information for Regional Economic Development, will be held October 29-31, 2012 in Managua, Nicaragua, at the Crowne Plaza Convention Center. This event is organized by IFAC with the Colegio de Contadores Publicos de Nicaragua, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the Global Public Policy Committee with the support of the Inter-American Accounting Association. The conference will include sessions on implementation of International Public Sector Accounting Standards, the auditor’s report, integrated reporting, updating education curriculum, and adoption and enforcement of ethics in Latin America. For more information, please see http://crecer2012.org.

 


 Open Consultations and Exposure Drafts

 

The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) has released a milestone consultation document. The IAASB’s Invitation to Comment (ITC): Improving the Auditor’s Report sets out the indicative direction of the board’s future standard-setting proposals to improve how and what auditors report in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (ISAs). The IAASB invites all stakeholders to respond to this ITC. To access the ITC and submit a comment, visit the IAASB’s website. Comment Deadline: October 8, 2012

 

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board has issued its latest Consultation Paper, Public Sector Combinations. Its objective is to initiate discussion on the possible accounting treatment for public sector combinations in the general purpose financial statements of an entity that uses accrual-based IPSASs. The Consultation Paper considers matters such as the timing of recognition and the initial measurement basis or approach that could be adopted for the wide range of combinations that may occur in the public sector. Comment Deadline: October 31, 2012
 

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) has issued Exposure Draft (ED) 47, Financial Statement Discussion and Analysis, which proposes minimum required content while still providing sufficient flexibility for entities to prepare and publish financial statement discussion and analysis that best portrays their specific circumstances. ED 47 includes implementation guidance and an illustrative example showing how an entity might prepare its financial statement discussion and analysis to comply with the proposed requirements. IPSASB also released an At a Glance summary for this Exposure Draft. Comment Deadline: July 31, 2012