Stathis Gould, IFAC, calls on the accountancy profession to step up and do its part to address the sustainability crisis.

Roger Tabor, Chair of the Professional Accountants in Business Committee addresses the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan on their 50th anniversary. Mr. Tabor discusses the influence and reach of the accountancy profession, and the objectives and focus areas of the Committee.

IFAC's comments on the FSA (UK) Guidance Consultation: Code of Practice for the relationship between the external auditor and the supervisor submitted on March 25, 2011.

The Professional Accountants in Business (PAIB) Committee of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) has significantly updated its Sustainability Framework (the Framework), a tool to support professional accountants and their organizations as they integrate sustainability into their strategy, operations, and reporting. The Framework highlights the important roles that professional accountants play in facilitating the sustainable development of their organizations, as well as the importance of adopting an integrated approach to business reporting.

Embracing sustainability and corporate responsibility from three perspectives—strategy, operations, and reporting—is critical to gaining the trust of stakeholders and the wider public, and ultimately ensuring sustainable value creation. Through key considerations, as well as examples from major international corporations, smaller firms, professional accountancy organizations, and leaders from around the world, the Framework provides a comprehensive view of some of the current best practices globally in each of these areas, and is applicable to entities of all sizes and levels of complexity.

“Professional accountants are already doing much to help organizations minimize waste, create efficiencies, and cut costs, which is undoubtedly the biggest driver for embracing sustainability,” said Roger Tabor, chair of the PAIB Committee. “However, accountants also need to be prepared to take on new and expanded roles, activities, and skills as they support their organizations in charting a more sustainable path. The Framework can help them on this journey.”

“To successfully embed sustainability within an organization, business leaders and professional accountants must recognize the importance of incorporating environmental, social, and governance factors into all functions and processes—from strategic planning and goal setting, to external communications and reporting. And, each of these areas is interconnected: to produce high-quality sustainability and integrated reports, these factors must be embedded into an organization’s culture and decision making,” said Ian Ball, CEO of IFAC.

Presented in a digital magazine format, and available in PDF, the Framework contains numerous internal links to allow professional accountants to easily navigate to the sections of most relevance to their particular roles. All sections include key considerations for professional accountants, including examples and references to other sources of information and guidance. The Sustainability Framework is available on the IFAC website.

About the PAIB Committee
The PAIB Committee serves IFAC member bodies and the more than one million professional accountants worldwide who work in commerce, industry, financial services, the public sector, education, and the not-for-profit sector. Its aim is to promote and contribute to the value of professional accountants in business by increasing awareness of the important roles professional accountants play, supporting member bodies in enhancing the competence of their members, and facilitating the communication and sharing of good practices and ideas.

About IFAC
IFAC is the global organization for the accountancy profession dedicated to serving the public interest by strengthening the profession and contributing to the development of strong international economies. IFAC is comprised of 164 members and associates in 125 countries and jurisdictions, representing approximately 2.5 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry, and commerce.

Today over 200 delegates from more than 45 countries converged in Istanbul for the fifth SMP Forum of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) Small and Medium Practices (SMP) Committee. Held in cooperation with the Union of Chambers of Certified Public Accountants of Turkey (TÜRMOB), the Expert Accountants' Association of Turkey (EAAT), and the Fédération des Experts Comptables Méditerranéens (FCM), the conference featured a keynote address from IFAC President Göran Tidström, and presentations from the World Bank and the European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (UEAPME).

Delegates from IFAC member bodies convened to discuss, debate, and share best practices on a range of topics, including the challenge for small businesses in keeping up with the complicated and rapidly changing regulatory environment and the many ways that SMPs can partner with small businesses to build and sustain value. The forum also included breakout sessions on implementing the IESBA Code of Ethics, the IAASB’s future projects for SMPs, and resources and tools to support this sector.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Tidström indicated that small- and medium-sized entities (SMEs) are a public interest issue: they represent two-thirds of employment globally, and comprise 95% of entities, according to the OECD. “Therefore,” he said, “keeping the wheels of the SME sector turning is critical, as they are the engine of the global economy.”

Mr. Tidström continued, “SMPs can help SMEs thrive by providing them with a broad range of services, including strategic and business advisory services, IT and financial reporting systems support, risk management and fraud prevention services, and financial, tax, and HR advisory services. The IFAC SMP Committee supports SMPs in developing and maintaining their competencies to provide these services, in addition to traditional compliance services.”

“This event continues to provide us with a unique opportunity to unite the global SMP community to focus on the issues that are the most relevant to this sector. The attendance here today is testament to professional accountancy organizations’ commitment to their SMP members. The SMP Committee is committed to building the capacity of SMPs, and we look forward to translating what we have learned here today into tangible outputs,” said Sylvie Voghel, chair of the IFAC SMP Committee.

To learn more about IFAC’s activities to support SMPs, and to access the valuable resources and guides produced by the SMP Committee, see the International Center for SMPs on the IFAC website. Presentations from this year’s forum, as well as videos, will be available on this site.

About IFAC
IFAC is the global organization for the accountancy profession dedicated to serving the public interest by strengthening the profession and contributing to the development of strong international economies. IFAC is comprised of 164 members and associates in 125 countries and jurisdictions, representing approximately 2.5 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry, and commerce.

The updated Sustainability Framework consolidates the important aspects of embedding sustainability into the DNA of an organization and can be applied to entities of all sizes and complexities. This edition focuses on the integration of sustainability factors from three perspectives--business strategy, operational, and reporting--and highlights the important roles that professional accountants play in facilitating the sustainable development of their organizations.

The Compliance Advisory Panel (CAP) has released for comment the International Federation of Accountants’ Proposed Member Body Compliance Program Strategy 2011-2014. The paper was drafted as a result of the strategic discussions held between the CAP, IFAC compliance staff, and Public Interest Oversight Board (PIOB) representatives in October 2010 and January 2011. The discussions were based on the CAP self-assessment, submitted as part of the 2009-2010 Monitoring Group’s review of the IFAC Reforms, as well as comments from the Fifth Public Report of the PIOB (May 2010).

The paper highlights the vision, values, and objectives of the IFAC Compliance Program and suggests priority areas through 2014. These areas include enhancing quality of professional accountancy organizations (PAOs); contributing to the agendas and actions of PAOs for the meaningful adoption and implementation of international standards; improving information and knowledge sharing; and collaborating with stakeholders involved in the regulation and development of the profession.

The CAP invites IFAC members and external stakeholders to comment on its proposed strategy. To access the paper or submit a comment, visit the Exposure Drafts and Consultation Papers section of the IFAC website. Comments on the paper are requested by May 30, 2011.

About IFAC
IFAC (www.ifac.org) is the global organization for the accountancy profession dedicated to serving the public interest by strengthening the profession and contributing to the development of strong international economies. IFAC is comprised of 164 members and associates in 125 countries and jurisdictions, representing approximately 2.5 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry, and commerce.

High-quality business reporting lies at the heart of strong capital markets and sustainable economic growth. All those involved in the business reporting supply chain play a critical role in making business reports more relevant, understandable, and reliable. This will enable the various stakeholders who use those reports to make informed decisions with respect to an organization’s social, environmental, and economic performance.

Elemental changes to the current format of financial reporting need to be made to increase its relevance and stakeholder value and stem the increasing complexity that has plagued financial reporting in recent years, according to key business leaders from around the world interviewed by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). Developing a new form of reporting that integrates an organization’s social and environmental performance with its economic performance, in a simplified manner, would benefit all stakeholders, according to interviewees. These and other recommendations are summarized in the report, Integrating the Business Reporting Supply Chain, released today by IFAC.

The report is based on IFAC’s interviews with 25 prominent business leaders, representing preparers, directors, auditors, standard setters, regulators, and investors, on what should be done to effectively improve governance, the financial reporting process, the audit, and the usefulness of business reports in the aftermath of the financial crisis. The report provides a summary of interviewees’ recommendations in each area and highlights some of IFAC’s related initiatives.

“Society needs successful commercial organizations that act responsibly, and it is important that the business reporting system not only allows but actively promotes this corporate philosophy. There is much debate as to whether or not the current reporting system is fit for this purpose, and this report seeks to drive forward the debate in the crucial areas: governance, financial reporting, financial auditing, and the usefulness of business reports,” said Charles Tilley, chair of the IFAC Business Reporting Project Group.

Strong governance lies at the core of high-quality business reporting. Interviewees agreed that good governance starts with tone at the top. Additional recommendations to strengthen governance in organizations include:

• Governance codes should be principles based and stakeholder driven;
• Collaborative, global effort is required to address systemic risk; and
• More independence should be required of boards of directors.

Improving financial reporting depends on simplifying reports, so that they are easily understood by all stakeholders in the reporting supply chain, according to interviewees. Interviewees also called upon regulators and standard setters to limit the financial reporting burden on smaller and non-listed entities.

In the area of auditing, interviewees agreed that limited audit choice is a challenge that needs to be addressed. They also made recommendations to further improve practice development and auditor communication, and recommended that auditors expand the scope of their assurance services to include non-financial information, such as the social and sustainable performance information included in integrated business reports.

Interviewees acknowledged that achieving integrated business reporting will be very hard to accomplish, and will require all stakeholders in the business reporting supply chain to manage the challenges—including litigation risks and regulations that may inhibit change—in a coordinated way.

IFAC would like to thank all of the business leaders who agreed to be interviewed, graciously lending their time and expertise, and without whom this project would not have been possible. To access a summary of the key recommendations, the interview transcripts, and a series of articles based on the interviews, visit the IFAC website. More information about the project group and their previous work is also available on this site.

About IFAC
IFAC (www.ifac.org) is the global organization for the accountancy profession dedicated to serving the public interest by strengthening the profession and contributing to the development of strong international economies. IFAC is comprised of 164 members and associates in 125 countries and jurisdictions, representing approximately 2.5 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry, and commerce.