Asia-Pacific
• The Accounting Professional and Ethical
Standards Board of Australia has issued the standard APES
210 Conformity with Auditing and Assurance Standards to replace
APES 410 Conformity with Auditing and Assurance Standards. APES 210
was effective from 30 September 2008.
• The Australian Accounting Standards Board
(AASB) has issued AASB 2008-10 amendments to Australian Accounting
Standards: Reclassification of Financial Assets, which amends AASB
139: Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement and AASB 7
Financial Instruments: Disclosures. The AASB release reflects
recent amendments by the International Accounting Standards
Board.
• The Accounting Professional & Ethical Standards
Board (APESB) of Australia is holding a public
consultation as part of its review of Miscellaneous Professional
Statement APS 12: Statement of Financial Advisory Service
Standards, which was issued in 2005 by CPA Australia and the
Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia to mandate best
practice for members engaged in financial advisory services.
The APESB review is part of the development of a new
professional standard entitled APES 335 Financial Advisory
Services, which will be harmonious with APES 110: Code of Ethics
for Professional Accountants. The consultation will also enable the
APESB to obtain the views of stakeholders on key issues relating to
the professional conduct of members of the professional accounting
bodies who provide financial advisory services.
• The Financial Reporting Standards Council in
the Philippines has approved, for domestic use, the adoption of
International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee
Interpretation 16, Hedges of a Net Investment in a Foreign
Operation.
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By GlobalDataThe interpretation applies to an entity that hedges the foreign
currency risk arising from its net investments in foreign
operations and that applies hedge accounting in accordance with IAS
39. It does not apply to other types of hedge accounting.
• The introduction of an Australian Carbon Pollution Reduction
Scheme in 2010 will require a whole new discipline of carbon
accounting with more regulation and compliance for business,
according to Crucible Carbon’s managing director
Matthew Warnken. Crucible Carbon works with businesses striving to
become carbon neutral while maintaining their efficiency.
Warnken said: “The complexity involved in carbon accounting can
be likened to accounting on steroids. While this is not good news
for businesses already weighed down with compliance paperwork it
can be turned to their advantage… innovation is borne of constraint
and businesses have a real opportunity to be ‘carbon ready’ sooner
than competitors.”
• The Ministry for Finance in Singapore and the
Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority have
established a committee to develop the Singapore accountancy
sector. The committee is intended to allow the government to review
the accountancy sector and help position Singapore as a leading
international centre in Asia for accountancy services and
professionals.
• CPA Australia has signed a Memorandum of
Understanding with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) in a bid
to advance sustainability reporting.
The institute has also provided seed funding to the St James
Ethics Centre to help establish a GRI base in Australia.
Africa, Middle East, South Asia
• The
Committee for Auditing Standards of South Africa
has issued a revised practice statement. Statement SAAPS 2
Financial Reporting Frameworks and Audit Opinions reflects
amendments made to the Companies Act that became effective on 14
December 2007. The revised statement has been approved by South
Africa’s Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors.
• The Dubai Financial Services Authority has
appointed Paul Koster as chief executive. Koster succeeds David
Knott, who retires in December this year. The incoming chief
executive was previously commissioner and a member of the executive
board for the Netherlands Authority for Financial Markets
(Autoriteit Financiële Markten) and chairman of the
financial arm of the Committee of European Securities
Regulators.
• RSM International’s Turkish member firm Kapital
Karden has expanded its representation by establishing a
cross-border office in Baku, Azerbaijan. Kapital Karden specialises
in audit, tax and accounting and currently has offices in the
Turkish cities of Ankara, Bursa and Istanbul. The firm recorded
annual turnover of about $7 million in 2007. The new Baku office
will initially focus on SME audit services and will be headed by
Tural Maharramov.
• Mid-tier association AGN International has
admitted a new member firm in Egypt. Joseph Andel Messih
& Co has two offices in Cairo, four partners and more
than 50 professionals and staff. The firm offers tax advice, audit,
accounting and consulting services.
• PricewaterhouseCoopers India has opened a new
office in Ahmedabad to service an increasing demand for assurance,
tax and advisory services in the region. Western-region managing
partner Jairaj Purandare said the office will soon have about 50
qualified professionals and he expects this number to grow to 150
by 2010.
• Fifteen employees of the National Audit
Office (NAO) of Tanzania have become certified public
accountancy graduates. The NAO’s Controller and Auditor-General
Ludovic Utouh said the office had recently taken deliberate steps
to train its workers at levels equivalent with the requirements of
the new Public Audit Act.
• The Association of Accountancy Bodies in West
Africa has produced a report following its eighth annual
congress which took place last year in Cotonou, Benin. Regional
Integration and Economic Development in West Africa outlines
seven of the papers presented at the conference. Topics discussed
in the report include the convergence of French and English
accounting standards and the harmonisation of accounting standards
in the West Africa sub-region to enhance public sector transparency
and accountability.
Europe
• The UK Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has
completed a process whereby the chairs of all its operating bodies
have become executive directors on the FRC board. The process forms
part of an FRC restructuring project that was announced in March
last year. It was completed when Auditing Practices Board chair
Richard Fleck was recently confirmed in his position until 31 March
2010.
• Paul Breckell has been appointed chair of the UK
Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy
charity panel. Breckell has more than 11 years of experience within
the charity sector and is currently the executive director of
finance and corporate resources for RNID UK, a national deaf and
hard of hearing charity.
• CIPFA has expelled Karen Sale from
membership. According to the institute, Sale was convicted of two
counts of assisting another party retain or control the benefit of
criminal conduct and has been sentenced to 240 hours of community
service. CIPFA said that although her criminal conviction was not
related to her employment, it still reflected upon her standing as
a professional.
• Intense geographic concentration within Russia’s professional
services industry is beginning to dilute. A 2008 report from the
Russian Ministry of Finance indicated a
highly-concentrated profession, with a majority of firms being
based in Moscow.
However, partners speaking with the International Accounting
Bulletin said this concentration is beginning to lessen as
firms expand into the regions in response to client demand. Firms
are also looking to expand across national borders.
• UK firm BDO Stoy Hayward has predicted
Islamic banking and Sharia-compliant products will be in great
demand by corporate investors over the next year due to the credit
crunch. According to the firm, Islamic banks are one of the few
financial institutions who still have significant sums of money
available to finance individuals and corporates, unlike their
western banking counterparts who will only continue to constrict
their lending policies in light of the current economic crisis.
Currently 20 major global banks operating in the UK have set-up
units to provide Islamic Financial Services. They have been joined
by five stand-alone Islamic banks.
• Ireland’s second highest fee earning firm, KPMG
Ireland, has revealed revenues for its 2008 financial year
climbed to €307.7 million ($452.8 million) following growth of 14.3
percent. KPMG Ireland’s strong growth followed a 28 percent
increase in fee income from 2007.
• The UK Financial Reporting Council has
received mainly positive feedback on the audit quality framework it
published in February 2008. Ten of the eleven respondents gave
general support to the framework. Three respondents believed it was
too soon to be able to comment on the practical application of the
framework. The FRC said it was clear from the initial feedback that
there was little appetite for any immediate changes to be made to
it. The next review will be in 18 months time.
North America, Latin America
• The US Financial Accounting Standards Board
(FASB) is seeking comment on three exposure drafts.
Accounting for Transfers of Financial Assets and Amendments to
FASB Interpretation No 46(R) addresses amendments to FASB Statement
No 140 Accounting for Transfers and Servicing of Financial Assets
and Extinguishments of Liabilities, and to FASB Interpretation No
46 Consolidation of Variable Interest Entities. Proposed FASB Staff
Position FAS 140-e and FIN 46 (R)-e Disclosures about transfers of
financial assets and interests in variable interest entities focus
on related disclosure requirements for public entities.
• The American Institute of Certified Public
Accountants women’s initiatives executive committee has
held a workshop to help promote the retention and advancement of
women within the accounting profession.
The institute reports that 50 percent of the CPA talent pool are
women but only 20 percent of them are partners or shareholders
within firms. Thirty-four CPAs from 16 firms took part in the
workshop, which was held in Chicago.
Lead instructor, course developer and partner at Crowe Horwath
in Atlanta Mary Bennett said: “Firm leaders left the workshop with
everything they need to kick-off an initiative including a business
case document and action plan customised to their firm. Nothing
like this has ever been available for firms in the past. This was a
unique opportunity.”
•The US Public Company Accounting Oversight
Board is proposing seven new auditing standards relating
to the auditor’s assessment of, and responses to, risk and related
conforming amendments.
The standards would supersede the board’s interim auditing
standards related to audit risk and materiality; audit planning and
supervision; consideration of internal control in an audit of
financial statements; audit evidence; and performing tests of
accounts and disclosures before year end.
They would also establish requirements and provide direction on
audit procedures performed throughout the audit. The comment period
ends on 18 February 2009.
• A Grant Thornton US audit partner has been appointed to the
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
women’s initiative executive committee. Jacqueline Akerblom, who is
also the firm’s national managing partner of women’s initiatives
and programmes, will begin her two-year term next month. Made up of
representatives from both large and small firms, the committee
focuses on developing best practices and tools for accounting firms
interested in launching women’s initiatives.
• KPMG US has named Angela Avant as the firm’s
first partner in charge of diversity. The newly created position
aims to maintain the recruitment, retention and advancement of a
diverse team of professionals at KPMG.
• Deloitte US has released a report, Five
Ways a Conversion to International Financial Reporting Standards
Could Impact a Global Tax Structure, to address key areas
where conversion to IFRS could result in unanticipated tax
consequences without proper planning. The firm said companies need
to pay close attention to the impact of a conversion to IFRS on
their global tax structure.
