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• The Philippine Financial Reporting Standards
Council has approved the adoption of amendments to IFRS by
the International Accounting Standards Board. The amendments are to
IAS 32 Financial Instruments: Presentation; IAS 1 Presentation of
Financial Statements (revised 2007) – Puttable Financial
Instruments and Obligations Arising on Liquidation; IFRS 2
Share-based Payment – Vesting Conditions and Cancellations; IFRS 3
Business Combinations; and IAS 27 Consolidated and Separate
Financial Statements. They are intended to improve accounting for
particular financial instruments that are classified as financial
liabilities. The revisions are based on comments from previous
exposure drafts and are expected to be effective from 1 July
2009.
• The Hong Kong Securities and Futures
Commission (SFC) has re-appointed Angelina Lee as
non-executive director for a two-year term beginning 1 August
2008.
SFC chairman Eddy Fong said: “I am delighted to be able to
continue working with Mrs Lee, whose insights and advice have
benefited the SFC a great deal over the past two years. I am
certain the SFC and the Hong Kong financial market will continue to
benefit from her wealth of experience and expertise.”
• CPA Australia has helped establish a
A$750,000 ($715,600) scholarship programme to address the skills
shortage and raise the standard of the profession in Singapore. The
scholarship is the result of a relationship between CPA Australia,
11 leading Singapore employers and three local universities who
will fund more than 300 accounting students through a post-graduate
course. The course will teach knowledge of global accounting
standards and ethics. The Big Four are all participating in the
programme.
• The Christchurch-based partners of KPMG New
Zealand have resigned to join a competitor firm. Paul
Kiesanowksi has been named as the new managing partner of the
Christchurch office and is being supported by additional partners
from other KPMG offices, the Big Four firm said. According to
Christchurch daily newspaper The Press, the rival firm is
Ernst & Young and the combination will bring Ernst &
Young’s representation in New Zealand’s third-largest city to nine
partners and 150 staff.
• The Australian Government has amended the Trade Practices Act
to recognise new CPA Australia professional
standards schemes in Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia,
the Northern Territory, the Australian Capital Territory and
Queensland, effective from 12 June 2008. The New South Wales scheme
was prescribed in October 2007. This prescription has the effect of
limiting the occupational liability of scheme members to an action
for contravention of section 52 of the Trade Practices Act, in the
same way as occupational liability is limited under the relevant
state and territories laws of the applicable Professional Standards
Act.
Africa, Middle East, South Asia
• The Institute
of Cost and Management Accountants of Pakistan (ICMAP) has
appointed a new executive director. Mushtaq Ahmed Madraswala, who
was previously a consultant with National Bank of Pakistan, has 27
years of diverse experience in managing, reporting and system
development for control functions of banking and finance. He has a
long association with ICMAP and was chairman of the Karachi branch
council for 15 years.
• The South African Institute of Chartered
Accountants (SAICA) has recorded a rise in the pass rate
of part one of its qualifying examination – 53 percent passed this
year, up from 46 percent in 2007. The institute also reported an
increase in the pass rate among black African first-time candidates
from 54 percent in 2007 to 63 percent in 2008. There was an 80
percent pass rate among Thuthuka students. At present SAICA has
20,885 members based in South Africa who hold the chartered
accountant designation of whom 973 are black African.
• Two new courses have been launched following an agreement
between the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of
India and the Indira Gandhi National Open University. The
courses will focus on financial and cost accounting, management
accounting and financial strategies.
• The Arab Society of Certified Accountants
(ASCA) has been accredited by the Accountants Licensing Committee
at the Yemeni Ministry of Industry and Trade. The accreditation
came as part of several revisions the ministry introduced to the
law that regulates the accounting profession, according to a letter
sent to ASCA by the Yemeni department. These revisions aim to make
accounting more consistent with global developments, especially in
light of negotiations for Yemen to join the World Trade
Organization, the letter said.
• The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA)
has entered into three agreements with international regulators in
Ireland, Belgium and Malta. The DFSA and each regulator have agreed
to share and co-operate in the supervision of financial
institutions and conduct of enforcement investigations within
respective jurisdictions.
• The Institute of Chartered Accountants of
India has issued an exposure draft of the Revised Standard
on Auditing (SA) 600, Special Considerations – Audits of Group
Financial Statements (Including the Work of Component
Auditors).
SA 600 is based on the revised and redrafted International
Standard on Auditing 600, which was issued by the International
Auditing and Assurance Standards Board in October 2007.
Europe
• The
managing partner of Grant Thornton UK corporate
advisory services has been elected as the chairman of the
Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and
Wales corporate finance faculty. Ian Smart takes over from
Chris Ward as chair of the faculty, which has more than 6,400
members and includes more than 90 member firms.
• The European Financial Reporting Advisory
Group has recommended the EU adopt the amendments to IFRS
that the International Accounting Standards Board published in May
2008 as part of its annual improvements process.
The amendments comprise 34 individual changes that focus
primarily on providing clarification and additional guidance on
IFRS. They do not introduce fundamental changes to existing IFRS
literature.
• Ben van der Veer, the chairman of KPMG
Netherlands, is leaving the firm on 1 October. van der
Veer has been with the Big Four firm for 32 years and has been
chair since 1999. He will be succeeded by vice chairman Herman
Dijkhuizen.
As chair of KPMG Netherlands, van der Veer has been a member of
the board and management committee of KPMG International. For the
past three years he was also chairman of the board of KPMG Europe,
Middle East and Africa (EMEA). The network has not yet announced
who will replace van der Veer as chair of KPMG EMA.
• The UK Financial Reporting Council expects to
make progress on a review of the complexity and relevance of
corporate reports during the next quarter. The regulator will also
modify the investigation and disciplinary scheme for the
profession.
In its quarterly strategic progress and planning report, the
regulator also said it intends to distribute to audit firms reports
on individual audits reviewed by the Audit Inspection Unit.
• The Institute of Certified Public Accountants in
Ireland has reported positive membership growth and
recently granted its 400th firm licence. The professional body said
it grew by 9 percent in 2007, 3 percent higher then the national
average among accountancy bodies in Ireland.
• Christopher Hogg’s position as chair of the UK
Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has been extended by one
year. His term is now due to end on 31 December 2009. UK
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Trade and Consumer
Affairs Gareth Thomas commented: “Sir Christopher has done much
good work as chair of the FRC, in particular in putting in place
new governance arrangements for the FRC. I have asked him to stay
on for an additional year to ensure that the changes are fully
bedded down.”
• Amadou Raimi has been re-elected as chairman of
Deloitte France for another three years. The audit
specialist has been chairman of the French firm since 2004.
Raimi has also been a member of Deloitte Global’s board since
2006 and its vice-chairman since last June. Deloitte was listed as
France’s fifth largest firm in last year’s International
Accounting Bulletin France survey.
North America, Latin America
•
The American Institute of Certified Public
Accountants, the Institute of Internal
Auditors and the Association of Certified Fraud
Examiners have teamed up to produce new guidelines for
fighting fraud. Managing the Business Risk of Fraud: A
Practical Guide outlines principles for establishing effective
fraud risk management, regardless of the type or size of an
organisation. The five key principles within the guidance address
governance, risk assessment, fraud prevention and detection,
investigation and corrective action. The guide can be downloaded
for free from the three organisations’ websites.
• The US-based Institute of Internal Auditors
(IIA) has appointed a new chair. Deloitte US partner Patricia
Miller will act as a spokesperson for the IIA on all issues
relating to internal auditing. She will also work to build mutually
beneficial relationships between the IIA and other professional
organisations, as well as be responsible for leading meetings.
• The accountancy profession is critical to the development of
the Caribbean, according to Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister
Patrick Manning. He was speaking at the annual conference of the
Institute of Chartered Accountants of the
Caribbean (ICAC). Manning said the goal of development in
the region is to improve the lives of people, and a key factor in
realising this objective is through a high level of efficiency in
the deployment of financial resources in public and private
sectors. He said this was impossible to achieve without the
guiding, monitoring, reporting and clarifying of roles that
accountants play.
• CMA Canada has published four new management
accounting practices on managing and measuring organisational risk.
These include organisation uncertainty and risk, the sources of
organisation risk, managing organisation risk and measuring
organisation risk. The publications can be downloaded from the CMA
Canada website.
• The American Institute of Certified Public
Accountants (AICPA) has received more than 360 minority
accounting scholarship applications following a recent student
leadership workshop. ‘Lead the Way, Make a Difference, Become a
CPA’ emphasised the importance of obtaining the CPA credential and
highlighted the flexibility and various career paths of the
accounting profession. The leadership workshop is a component of
the AICPA minority initiatives committee’s strategy to promote
diversity in the profession.
• A recent survey of US audit committee members found only 28
percent were “very satisfied” they understood the process that
management used to identify and assess significant business risks.
Only 21 percent were “very satisfied” with the risk reports they
received from management. The study also noted that 74 percent of
audit committee members said the communication and co-ordination of
risk oversight activities among the audit committee, board and
other committees could be improved. The research was conducted by
KPMG’s Audit Committee Institute and the National
Association of Corporate Directors, which surveyed 281 of its audit
committee members.
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