The board of the International Federation of Accountants decided at a meeting last week to hold a G-20 Accountancy Summit next month to get the perspectives of various accountancy institutes on how the profession can best contribute to strengthening the global financial system.
The summit is scheduled to take place in London on July 23-24. Our goal is to identify and summarize the collective viewpoints of IFAC and accountancy institutes in G-20 countries and to submit these to the G-20 Working Groups prior to their September meeting, said IFAC President Robert Bunting in a statement. This will be a follow-up to IFACs letter to three G-20 Working Groups in March, in which we indicated our support of their recommendations to implement international standards, improve the international regulatory framework, and strengthen the roles of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
During the meeting in Dublin last week, IFAC board members considered the implications of the financial crisis and heard reports from the chairs of IFACs independent standard-setting boards on their initiatives to update and develop new international auditing, education, ethics, and public sector accounting standards, particularly in those areas that would help the profession to address issues related to the financial crisis, and to adopt and promote their adoption and use by a wide group of stakeholders. IFAC said that such adoption and implementation is vital to improving the transparency of the financial system and is consistent with G-20 recommendations.
In addition, the board discussed how IFAC could best support small and midsized practices, including assisting them in addressing issues emerging from the financial crisis and increasing awareness of the role of professional accountants in business in risk management, corporate governance and transparent financial reporting.
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