Sixth edition of IFAC survey reveals sovereign debt issues and confidence in international standards as key concerns

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07 Mar 2013

The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) has published its Sixth Annual Global Leadership Survey. IFAC received 113 responses to its questions regarding respondents’ opinions about perceptions of the profession and the most significant issues facing global accountancy in 2013. Over one third of the responses came from Europe.

As in the fifth edition of the survey, respondents' highest priorities continue to be "increasing the confidence in international standards, increasing their adoption, enhancing their implementation, and new standards and revision of existing standards."

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) were viewed as being most important for global adoption, implementation and enforcement, with International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) being ranked second, then followed by the Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants, International Education Standards (IESs) and International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSASs).

The volatile environment continues to be another big area of concern. Aspects include the difficult global financial climate, public sector financial management and sovereign debt issues. This is connected with concerns regarding the reputation and credibility of the profession.

Please click for the IFAC press release and  access to the survey on the IFAC website.

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