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7/30/2019 The Accountant - Public Financial Management Responses
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3/32Febuay 2012 y 1.theaccuntant-nline.cm
CommentThe Accuntant
Contents
02-03 newsRound-up SECcommissioner
opposesPCAOBsFranzelappointment
SECIFRSendorsementapossibility
ICAIelectspresidentandvice-president
04 Comment:InteGRAted RepoRtInG
Integratedreportingisoftenreferredtoasthenextevolutionincorporatereporting.InstituteofManagementAccountantsXBRLcommitteechairBramrishareshisviews
05-06 FeAtuRe:GoVeRnment ACCountInG
Whileitiswidelyacknowledgedthatgovernmentswouldbenefitfromimprovedaccountingpractices,thereislessaccordontheroleofaccrual-basedaccounting.palGlreports
07-08 InFoCus:tHAIACCountInG pRoFessIon
DisastrousfloodingacrossThailandhasmeanttheaccountingprofessionhashadtostepuptosupportbusinesses,whilethecountry
planstolaunchstandardsmoresuitablefortheneedsofitslargeSMEcommunity.daviHayreports
09 Comment:eCAudItReFoRm pRoposALs
ThemajorityoftheECsauditreformproposalshavesparkedglobaldebate,asmuchofthemarketbelievestheyarelikelytohinderauditquality.TheCharteredInstituteofManagementAccountantsCEOCharltillyshareshisviews
10-25 CoVeRstoRY:RoundtABLe: eCAudItReFoRmpRoposALs
AyearonfromwhentheoriginalECGreenPaperauditreformproposalswerelaunched,thefinalrecommendationshaveleftuncertainty.AgroupofaccountingfirmleadersandpublicpolicyexpertsgatheredinLondontodiscussthenextevolutionoftheproposals
26-28 CountRYsuRVeY:FRAnCe
AccountantsandauditorsinFranceareunitingtocontestauditreformsintheECproposals.FormembersoftheCNCC
andCSOEC,therecommendationswouldonlyservetoundermineandlowerthecountrysexistingstandardsofauditing
Over the past few weeks, the build uptowards the USs decision to
adoptIFRS has intensified. This decision has beena long-time coming
and while the US Secu-rities and Exchange Commission (SEC) hassaid
it needs a few more months to finishoff its assessment,
particularly in this timeof financial austerity, there have been
someclues cropping up leading us to believe thatinternational
accounting standards will beadopted in the country in the not too
distant
future.Earlier in the month, the monitoring
body of the IFRS Foundation took a muchtougher stance on
convergence in its strate-gic review report underpinning that
con-vergence is not a substitute for adoption ofIFRS in the push
towards one set of globalaccounting standards (Turn to page 3
forfull article).
This declaration is a poignant one espe-cially because one of
the main focuses in thefirst decade of the International
AccountingStandards Board (IASB) was convergence,particularly with
US GAAP.
The US decision has a knock-on effectwith many other countries
around the worldchoosing to take a wait-and-see approach toIFRS
adoption on the back of this, which inturn has meant the IASBs goal
of a globalharmony in financial accounting standardsis also
somewhat delayed.
The Trustees have said that they areconfident there will be a
positive adoptionresponse from the US, as well as other eco-nomic
powerhouses such as China, Indiaand Japan, but it also warned that
failureto make such commitments may result in
these countries losing their sovereign right toevaluate future
global rules.
It looks like the SEC has taken heed and,in a recent meeting
with the IFRS advisorypanel, chief accountant James Kroeker
allud-ed to a positive decision from the regulatortowards endorsing
IFRS in Spring.
The endorse-ment is one ofthe four discussedapproaches forIFRS
adoption sofar and would seethe US formallyendorsing new oramended
IFRSbefore they becomelegally binding.
IASB chairmanHans Hoogervorst also said he is optimisticthat
international accounting standards willsoon be adopted in the US
with Japan andIndia not being far behind.
We all know that a positive decision fromthe US is of great
importance to the globaleconomy and this is reflected in the
opinionof the majority of people, but we mustnt dis-regard the fact
that the transition from verydetailed rules-based US GAAP to the
broadprinciples and little guidance of IFRS is noeasy task.
nifbhThe issue it seems is perhaps not if the US willadopt IFRS,
but when. The first step after thedecision is for the SEC to issue
a road-map,but confidence is waning as to how quicklythe US is
likely to make the transition fromGAAP to IFRS, with some saying
there maybe no hard deadline given.
To me, and Im sure many others, thiswould essentially be just as
bad as not mak-ing a decision at all so I hope that the SECmakes a
decision not only based on the needsof US markets and investors but
considers the
many companies around the world and theglobal economy that will
also benefit froma positive decision and realistic implementa-tion
deadlines.
