Thank you Walter, and ladies and gentlemen, for your warm welcome. It is my pleasure to be here today. Clearly, there is increased interest in XBRL and a growing recognition of the important role it can play in enhancing the integrity and the credibility of financial reporting and auditing. This is evidenced by the attendance here today of all of you and of the participation in this conference of leaders of the accountancy profession, the private sector and government. This historic city of Philadelphia was the site of many important events in the founding of the United States. And this week, Philadelphia again plays host to a revolution - this one, a quiet revolution in the way that we report and audit financial information.

Thank you very much for your kind introduction. I am delighted and honored to speak before this FEE Assembly, among so many leaders of our profession. Your President David Devlin and your Secretary General Henri Olivier have been great supporters of IFAC and its work and for that I am very grateful for this. The more we collaborate, the more we can achieve. I am very much looking forward to working with your incoming President, Jacques Potdevin, and with your new Chief Executive, Olivier Boutellis-Taft.

This information paper presents the findings of research into the preparers, users, and user information needs of micro-entity financial reports. The Small and Medium Practices Committee hopes the paper will inform the debate on whether the proposed International Financial Reporting Standard for Small and Medium-Sized Entities will suit micro-entities.

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) has issued an exposure draft (ED) designed to strengthen the disclosure of financial information about external assistance, such as emergency assistance and development aid received by governments and government agencies in developing and other countries.

ED 32, Financial Reporting under the Cash Basis of Accounting - Disclosure Requirements for Recipients of External Assistance, proposes that the financial statements of recipients of external assistance disclose the total amount of external assistance received, used, and available during the reporting period. These disclosures will increase the transparency of the financial statements of recipients and contribute to greater accountability by the recipients of such assistance. ED 32 also encourages a range of additional disclosures which will further enhance the usefulness of the financial statements in the assessment of the financial position of recipients and of their use of external assistance.

"ED 32 reflects an approach that enhances the accountability of financial statements, does not impose an inappropriate burden on reporting entities, and can be justified on a cost-benefit basis across a wide range of jurisdictions. While establishing basic accountability requirements, it is also responsive to the ability of individual recipients to comply with the proposed requirements," emphasizes IPSASB Chair Philippe Adhémar.

ED 32 was developed following consideration of responses that the IPSASB received to a previous exposure draft, ED 24, a document with the same title which was issued in February 2005. ED 32 proposes amendments to address constituents' concerns regarding the previous exposure draft.

"Respondents to the previous exposure draft, ED 24, expressed concern that many recipients of external assistance would find compliance with the proposed requirements onerous. ED 32 responds to those concerns by establishing an appropriate balance between required components and those which are encouraged. It has been developed after extensive consultation with our Consultative Group and other constituents," explains Mr. Adhémar.

Before a final International Public Sector Accounting Standard is approved, ED 32 will be field tested. The IPSASB has secured the support of key regional and international organizations for this testing.

How to Comment

Comments on the ED are requested by March 31, 2007. The ED may be viewed by going to http://www.ifac.org/EDs. Comments may be submitted by email to publicsectorpubs@ifac.org. They can also be faxed to the attention of the IPSASB Technical Director at +1 (212) 286-9570 or mailed to IFAC, 545 Fifth Avenue, 14th Floor, New York, NY 10017, USA. All comments will be considered a matter of public record and will ultimately be posted on IFAC's website.

About IFAC

IFAC is the worldwide 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's current membership consists of approximately 160 professional accountancy bodies in 120 countries, representing more than 2.5 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry and commerce. In addition to setting international public sector financial reporting standards through the IPSASB, IFAC, through its independent standard-setting boards, sets ethics, auditing and assurance, and education standards. It also issues guidance to encourage high-quality performance by professional accountants in business.

The objective of this paper is to set out the policy of the IAASB on the question: What modifications may a national standard setter that adopts the International Standards promulgated by the IAASB as its national standards make to the International Standards while still asserting that the resulting national standards conform to the International Standards? 

I would like to thank your Chairman, Willem van Wijngaarden, and your Chief Executive, Gert Smit, for inviting me to speak to you today. Gert Smit has been an active supporter of IFAC, serving as a Technical Advisor on the IFAC Board - including at our meeting in Istanbul last week - and I would like to recognize his dedication and commitment to the accountancy profession both here in the Netherlands and globally.

The accountancy profession is standing strong and looking ahead. In recent years, the expectations of our profession have rightfully increased. We have not only met these expectations; we have in many cases exceeded them. We have concentrated on doing what is right and necessary, not for ourselves, but for the public who has entrusted us with their confidence. We have the conviction and the talent to keep working in that direction. The hearts and minds of professional accountants are willing and prepared to respond to the future.

Presidents, fellow professional accountants, ladies and gentlemen. Good morning. It is a great pleasure to be here to chair and to introduce the third and final plenary session of the 2006 World Congress of Accountants on "value creation through professional accountants in business." I am delighted to be joined here this morning by three most distinguished individuals who will lead our discussions:

• Lady Barbara Thomas Judge, who is, inter-alia, Deputy Chair of the Financial Reporting Council of the UK, Chairman of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority and Deputy Chairman of Friends Provident Plc as well as being a former (and indeed the youngest ever) Commissioner of the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
• Mary Keegan, who is Managing Director, Government Financial Management of HM Treasury in the United Kingdom, Head of the UK Government Accountancy Service and Finance Director of HM Treasury. Mary is also a former Chairman of the UK Accounting Standards Board.
• David Hastings, who is Manager of Insurance, Shell Canada Ltd and a former Chair of CMA Canada's Board of Directors.

It has been an honor and a privilege for me to have the opportunity to work with other accountants from around the world, those in public practice, industry, government and education and especially the leaders of the AICPA and IFAC. In particular, Rene Ricol and Graham Ward as well as Ian Ball have provided strong support during the years the new ethics code was in development, and I know that under Fermín de Valle’s leadership that support will continue. In my grandmother’s words, receiving the Sempier award is the “icing on the cake.” Robert Sempier’s vision of an accountancy organization which brings together all members of institutes throughout the world and recognizes the challenges of the global economy by working together to develop and implement the highest level of professional standards is today a reality. As we end this World Congress in Istanbul, which is so rich in history and diversity, we go out to our own countries and careers re-energized by the discussions and camaraderie of the last few days and more deeply committed than ever to the convergence of high quality standards which contribute to the strength of the profession worldwide and to the development of strong international economies.

Anyone who receives an honor such as the Sempier Award has many people who have helped make their efforts possible. For me that starts with my parents, who raised me to believe in the “power of positive thinking,” and continues with my daughter Patricia, who when she was very small said “different people have different thoughts.” That has served me well in trying to be receptive to the viewpoints of people coming from different perspectives, cultures and regulatory schemes. My sisters and their families, including my nephews who have joined me here at this World Congress, have always encouraged me. My partners in UHY LLP and all of the member firms of UHY International have supported my volunteer work in the profession, providing service to my clients when I could not be there to do so and sharing their own viewpoints and understanding of the issues which face us in the 21^st century world of accounting.

Equally important have been the contributions of all the members of the IFAC Ethics Committee and Jan Munro, the committee’s Technical Manager, whose assistance was  critical in completing the rewrite of the entire Code of Ethics which provides critical guidance for what is expected of accountants in  performance of services in the public interest.

In my forty years of practicing public accountancy, I have constantly been challenged and rewarded by being a part of a profession which has grown to include many new ways in which we serve our clients and the public, and has continued to develop new standards to deal with changes in the economic and regulatory environment.

Advances in technology continue to make our world smaller and each day brings us closer to a truly global community. I believe that the most important element of the public’s reliance on our work is stakeholder trust in what we do. The international accounting and auditing standards that are being developed and adopted around the world are one aspect of attaining this important ideal. But, to me, the foundation for our profession is our ethical behavior. Commitment to integrity and objectivity and demonstration of independence is the foundation for the public’s trust. It is the keystone of our profession and has to come from within ourselves, demonstrated in action as well as words.

Harmony doesn’t mean that we all sing the same note. We serve different roles, as preparers, auditors, regulators or educators. We work in different areas, in firms, large and small, in countries at varying stages of economic development, and view things from our own perspective. Different is good! As a profession, though, we have much more in common than we have differences. We share one set of values and are committed to performing our work with this highest level of professional integrity and intellectual honesty. I hope that each of you recognizes as we leave Istanbul that every person has something to contribute and that each of us represents the others in our actions and our attitudes.

Eli Werlin, one of the founding partners of our firm in the U.S., always emphasized how important it is to continue to learn, adapt to new situations and to be a part of finding new solutions to old problems and new opportunities to provide services. I am honored that the AICPA and IFAC have allowed me to participate in this work and for the recognition of my efforts to make a contribution to our profession. I sincerely thank you all.

I am very proud to have the honor of presenting the IFAC Sempier Award to a professional who I deeply respect for her dedication to this profession.

She is a person of impeccable character and great courage. For the past 40 years she has helped our profession address ethical issues at both a national and international level, doing so with the utmost integrity. For 10 years, she served on IFAC’s Ethics Committee – now the International Ethics Standards Board of Accountants – including five years as its chair. And she served as chair during some of the most challenging times in our profession’s history. Under her leadership, in January 2002, IFAC issued a major revision to its Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants, including a conceptual framework approach for independence requirements for assurance engagements. This approach has now been incorporated throughout the entire IFAC Code of Ethics.

Her work on ethical issues has not been confined to IFAC. Prior to her work with IFAC, she was chairman of the Ethics Committee of the American Institute of CPAs.

I would now like to invite Marilyn Pendergast, the IFAC Sempier Award winner, to join me on the stage.

Marilyn, I highly respect and admire you. Thank you for all you have done. It has been good for the profession. More importantly, it has been good for the public that we serve.

On behalf of IFAC, please accept this award in recognition of your contributions to IFAC and this great profession of ours.

Congratulations Marilyn.