09 October 2013

IFAC and IPSASB represented at World Bank Group-IMF seminar

IFAC Chief Executive Officer Fayez Choudhury and IPSASB Deputy Chair Ron Salole recently participated in a World Bank Group-IMF seminar, "Strengthening Fiscal Transparency and Government Accounting", held in Washington, DC.

Bertrand Badré, Managing Director and World Bank Group Chief Financial Officer, delivered a welcome address to the seminar participants, followed by a keynote speech from Gerd Schwartz, Deputy Director, IMF Fiscal Affairs Department.

Messrs Choudhury and Salole were panellists for “Improving Government Accounting”, chaired by Charles McDonough, Vice President and Controller of the World Bank. The panel explored the importance of accrual accounting, opportunities and challenges with its implementation, and the role that IPSASs play for transparency and quality of government accounting.

"Sound government finances directly contribute to the efforts to restore or gain confidence in the public sector", Mr Badré said. “It is an important step in building trust in governments as the transparency, reliability, and accountability that result from such practices support value for taxpayer’s money.”

“IFAC’s support of high-quality international standards for the public sector will be instrumental in promoting more comprehensive and reliable fiscal reporting by governments around the world", said Mr Schwartz.

“Poor governmental reporting represents a threat to global financial stability and economic growth that must be addressed", Mr Choudhury said, citing the 2012 IMF paper Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Risk, which highlighted the seriousness and extent of current inadequacies in governments’ fiscal reporting and accountability and underscored the risks associated with them.

“IFAC has long recognised that a fundamental way to protect the interests of the public and investors is to develop, promote, and enforce a common set of high-quality international financial reporting standards for the public sector", he added. “That is why the IPSASB, an independent standard-setting board, was created to develop IPSASs.”

“We see the adoption of IPSASs as important to all economies around the world", said Mr Salole. “Additionally, there are some advanced economies that still follow cash accounting and we see this as inadequate in terms of governmental reporting.”

Press release

© IFAC