Monday 18 March 2013

Outgoing IFAC chief executive pushes G20 on accounting standards

Ian Ball SAM KESTEVEN
Ian Ball, chief executive of IFAC Photo: Sam Kesteven
The outgoing chief executive of the International Federation of Accountants has called on Russia to use its presidency of the Group of Twenty leading nations to press for wider adoption of International Public Sector Accounting Standards. 

Speaking in Moscow on the eve of last week’s summit of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors, Ian Ball said supporting the adoption and implementation of Ipsas would strengthen global financial stability.
The Russian presidency, which runs throughout 2013, should create a better understanding of the need to significantly enhance the quality of accounting by governments, he said.

Russia should also urge the Financial Stability Board to adopt Ipsas as one of its 14 ‘key standards’ for sound financial systems, he added. The FSB, which is responsible for monitoring and promoting stability in the global financial system, has a list of minimum requirements for countries to either meet or exceed. While International Financial Reporting Standards are on the list, Ipsas are not.
Ball also called on the G20 to direct the FSB to research the effectiveness of various different institutional arrangements for fiscal management and governance.

IFAC has repeatedly called on the G20 to back moves towards greater transparency and accountability in public finances. Last June it wrote to the leaders of the G20 nations before their annual summit advocating immediate action to address unsustainable public finances and to encourage accrual-based accounting by governments and public sector bodies.

Ball’s comments came during an event held by the Institute of International Finance, which brings together financial services companies worldwide. Speaking at the end of the conference, the managing director of the IIF, Timothy Adams said: ‘The key message of the conference is that participants from both the private and official sectors are unanimous in their support for the goals of the G20, including a stronger, more transparent and better-regulated financial sector.

‘Economic growth vitally depends on a thriving private sector, working together with a well-managed public sector. The mutual interest of both the private and public worlds is a swift and sound restoration of firmly grounded economic optimism.’

No comments:

Post a Comment