The paper, developed by IFAC's Professional Accountants in Business (PAIB) Committee, summarises key internal control frameworks, highlights recent legislative and other initiatives, and discusses the role of internal control in enhancing corporate governance.

"The paper finds that current views on internal controls support a principles- and market-based approach in which organizations make a commitment to develop internal control systems particular to their own specific internal and external environments. It also identifies the importance of the tone at the top and the culture and ethical framework throughout the organization to the effective implementation of an internal control system."

The paper may be downloaded without charge (registration required) from IFAC's Website. Click for Press Release (PDF 80k, 19 pages).

Those roles could include:

• Assurance provider and evaluator, such as an internal financial or operational auditor or evaluator of information systems;
• Manager of information systems, such as a knowledge manager or data center manager; and
• Designer of business systems, alone or as part of team, such as a knowledge engineer, external advisor or consultant.

The proposal is in the form of an exposure draft entitled Information Technology for Professional Accountants. Click for Press Release (PDF 84k)

An information paper on Approaches to the Development and Maintenance of Professional Values, Ethics and Attitudes in Accounting Education Programs. The paper will serve as the basis for the development of an International Education Practice Statement on this topic. Click for Press Release (PDF 82k).

Both of the foregoing press releases have hyperlinks so you can obtain the underlying document from IFAC.

The new directive modifies the 4th and 7th company law directives ('accounting directives' 78/660/EEC and 83/349/EEC), and also the accounting directives for banks (86/635/EEC) and insurance undertakings (91/674/EEC). It establishes collective responsibility of board members for the financial statements and annual reports, enhances transparency in related parties?transactions and off-balance sheet arrangements, and, for publicly traded companies, introduces a requirement for a corporate governance statement. The size thresholds for exempting small and medium-sized entities from specified accounting and auditing rules were also raised. The new Directive comes into law 20 days after publication in the Official Journal. EU member states then have two years to enact the provisions of the new directive into their national legislation. Click for (PDF 63k).

This checklist addresses the presentation and disclosure requirements of IFRSs in issue at 30 June 2006. It does not address the requirements of IFRSs as regards recognition and measurement. The checklist is formatted to allow the recording of a review of financial statements, with a place to indicate yes/no/not-applicable for each presentation and disclosure item. You can always find Deloitte's model IFRS financial statements, IFRS presentation and disclosure checklists, and IFRS compliance questionnaires Here.

The International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) will meet at the IASB's offices in London on Thursday 7 September and Friday 8 September 2006. The agenda will be announced shortly.

Currently, the Moroccan Stock Exchange Law requires all companies listed on the Casablanca Stock Exchange other than banks and financial institutions to choose between IFRSs and Moroccan GAAP.

 

VASs have been developed by the Ministry of Finance (MOF) based on IASs issued prior to 2003. The MOF is considering a proposal to grant rights to the Vietnam Association of Certified Public Accountants (VACPA) to formulate and update Vietnamese Accounting Standards. You will find links to all of our jurisdiciton pages Here.

But what is required to succeed in these markets whose cultures, customer requirements, labor practices, and regulatory regimes are very different than those in developed markets? How are companies adjusting their product offerings, human resource strategies, and supply chains? A new publication from Deloitte Innovation in Emerging Markets: Strategies for Achieving Commercial Success identifies five challenges that companies must innovatively tackle to achieve success in emerging markets:

• Build new value propositions to deliver different product offerings that meet the unique needs of emerging market customers. In many cases, this will be at dramatically lower price points than in developed markets.
• Globalise research and development by locating R&D; facilities in emerging markets to acquire deeper customer knowledge, and to build, market and distribute tailored products.
• Tailor talent management strategies to the unique needs of employees in emerging markets, rethinking how to effectively recruit, develop, deploy, and connect people.
• Master the complexity of global value chains to provide autonomy at the local level, while leveraging the strengths of headquarters, including governance and management know-how.
• Build risk management capabilities to effectively detect, correct and manage the unique profile of risks presented by emerging markets, such as the protection of intellectual property.

The research report is based on a global survey of more than 400 executives, as well as in-depth interviews with senior executives at several global manufacturers. Learn more by downloading (PDF 647k).

Its purpose is to provide information about the extent of similarity between Canadian GAAP and IFRSs. The comparison reflects AcSB and IASB standards at 31 March 2006. The comparison covers significant differences only and does not include all of the differences that might arise in a particular entity's circumstances. It is not intended for use in preparing financial statements. AcSB staff is also maintaining a more detailed comparison for those interested in comparison at a technical level. It is available on the AcSB's Website. Click to (PDF 286k). There's a permanent link on our Canada Page. Deloitte is grateful to the AcSB for allowing us to post this comparison. We have Other Comparisons Here.

The combined organisation has about 4,000 members comprising authorized public accountants, approved public accountants, and other highly qualified professionals in the accountancy sector in Sweden. The new body is known as FAR SAS.