Good morning. I'm delighted to be here. Thank you, Eric, for inviting me to join you at the firm's international symposium. It is particularly gratifying to me to meet with you in my country. I hope you have a wonderful stay in Buenos Aires.

You have asked me to talk about IFAC's mission and how it affects global audit networks. I will gladly do that and then take your questions.

IFAC has a history of collaboration with the international networks firms such as PKF.

I want to thank PKF partners and associates for their support of IFAC's work. I would also like to personally extend a word of thanks to Theo Vermaak, PKF's representative on IFAC's Transnational Auditors Committee (TAC), for bringing his valuable practical experience to that committee. The TAC is an IFAC committee, but at the same time is the executive arm of the Forum of Firms.

As you probably know, PKF together with 22 other accounting networks involved in multinational audits, participate in IFAC chiefly through the Forum of Firms. The Forum was established six years ago to address criticisms and concerns expressed by international stakeholders with regard to the use of international standards and consistent audit performance among international auditing network firms.

Upon joining the Forum, the networks made a major commitment to IFAC standards and other quality measures.

Thank-you Mr. Chairman. Good morning ladies and gentlemen.
 
Before I start I would just like to say what a privilege and a pleasure it is for me to be able to participate on this panel. I wish to share with you today the significant points that IFAC is likely to make in the comment letter to the IASB. I will also outline some of the key findings from a micro-entity financial reporting research project. And finally I will spend a few minutes on assurance services for SMEs.
 
Let me frame my comments with some observations. In the recent past, issues impacting small- and medium-sized entities (SMEs) and small-and medium-sized practices (SMPs) have rose to the top of the agenda - of the regulators, professional accountancy bodies, standard setters, and IFAC. The IASB’s project to develop an SME accounting standard is testimony to this. It seems the main spur for this emphasis on SME/SMP is concern over regulatory overload, overload that is stifling the ability of small business to innovate, grow and compete. This regulation, including standards of accounting, auditing, and ethics, was often tailored to suit large business. It’s no surprise it is ill fitting for small business. The standards sometimes lack relevance to SME/SMP. And SME/SMP often lack the capacity to efficiently implement and comply with them.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm honored to be here in Osaka speaking to you on the 50th anniversary of the CAPA conference. Much has happened at CAPA since the meeting of the First Far East Conference of Accountants half a century ago in the Philippines, attended by your twelve founding members. Today, CAPA is a large and very important regional accountancy organization, and its geographical area encompasses half the globe. As many of you know, IFAC is celebrating an anniversary this year too: our 30th. The progress that IFAC and the accountancy profession have been able to achieve was made possible through the cooperation of members and regional accountancy organizations such as CAPA.

Good morning ladies and gentleman. It is a pleasure to be here in Osaka, this beautiful city that was once the imperial capital of Japan. I would like to thank his Imperial Highness Crown Prince Naruhito for welcoming us all to his country.

Osaka is a very fitting place to host the 17th conference of the Confederation of Asian and Pacific Accountants. In ancient times, this city served as the gateway to Japan for foreign visitors and envoys from across Asia. Today, Osaka once again welcomes visitors from across the Asia-Pacific region with open arms.

CAPA continues to play an integral role in the development of the accountancy profession in this region, which is in the midst of one of the greatest economic expansions in human history. Now more than ever, professional accountants in this region are essential to the long-term sustainability of this growth through their work within business and industry, in public practice, and in government service. As the organization for the profession in this region, CAPA must continue to support high quality work by all members of the profession, as it has done for so long.

Thank-you Mr. Chairman and good morning ladies and gentlemen.
 
Before I start I would just like to say what a privilege and a pleasure it is for me to be able to participate on this panel. I wish to share with you today some of the significant points that IFAC is likely to make in its comment letter to the IASB. While the letter is still a draft many points have already crystallized during the process of its development. And I will outline some of the key findings from a micro-entity financial reporting research project.

Let me frame my comments with some observations. In the recent past, issues impacting small- and medium-sized entities (SMEs) and small-and medium-sized practices (SMPs) have rose to the top of the agenda - of the regulators, professional accountancy bodies, standard setters, and IFAC. The EU simplification initiative is testimony to this - as is the IASB's project to develop an SME accounting standard. It seems the main spur for this emphasis on SME/SMP is concern over regulatory overload, overload that is stifling the ability of small business to innovate, grow and compete. This regulation, including standards of accounting, auditing, and ethics, was often tailored to suit large business. It's no surprise it is ill fitting for small business. The standards sometimes lack relevance to SME/SMP. And SME/SMP often lack the capacity to efficiently implement and comply with them.

The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) is requesting proposals for the development of a practice management guide for use by small and medium accounting practices (SMPs). The purpose of the guide will be to assist SMPs in managing their practices in an efficient, profitable and professional manner. It is intended that the guide will cover a range of topics, such as strategic planning, management structure, client relationships, managing finances and risk, partnership issues, networking, and succession planning.

“The development of this practice management guide is part of the SMP Committee’s plan to provide a series of explanatory guides aimed at helping SMPs to comply efficiently with international standards and to deliver high quality, cost-effective services,” states Sylvie Voghel, Chair of the IFAC SMP Committee. The guide will be made available to all IFAC member bodies at no charge for end use by practitioners, in particular, those managing the practice.

The specifications for the Request for Proposal: Development of a Practice Management Guide for Use by Small and Medium Practices are available on the IFAC website at https://web.ifac.org/download/Practice_Management_Guide_RFP.pdf. The deadline for submitting proposals is 12:00 pm (EDT), Friday, October 19, 2007. Submissions can be emailed to Paul Thompson, Senior Technical Manager of the SMP Committee, at paulthompson@ifac.org.

Founded in 1977, IFAC is the global 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 is comprised of 155 members and associates in 118 countries, representing more than 2.5 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry and commerce. The organization, through its independent standard-setting boards, sets international ethics, auditing and assurance, education, and public sector accounting standards. It also issues guidance to encourage high quality performance by professional accountants in business and those working in small and medium practices.

One of the best defenses against business failure and an important driver of business performance is strong internal control. This is true for organizations globally. Recognizing this, the Professional Accountants in Business (PAIB) Committee of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) has released a new publication on Internal Control from a Risk-Based Perspective.

This information paper features interviews conducted by Robert Bruce, a leading financial journalist, with 10 senior-level professional accountants in business on their experiences and views on establishing effective internal control systems. The interviews help to demonstrate the importance of a risk-based approach to internal control in helping an organization manage its overall risk. They also shed light on the nature of risk in organizations, how to establish an internal control system focused on driving performance and supporting the delivery of strategic objectives, and success stories that can help organizations in considering improvements to their approach.

"The flood of rules and requirements that resulted from past corporate failures, and the often time-consuming and costly compliance efforts, make us easily forget that the right kind of internal controls - focused on the real risks of an organization - actually can save time, money and ensure creation and maintenance of value," emphasizes Edward Chow, Chair of the PAIB Committee.

"These interviews will help professional accountants in business and their organizations to benchmark their own organizations' internal control efforts and philosophy." This interview-based information paper is part of a larger PAIB Committee project on internal control. In 2006, the committee published an overview paper, Internal Controls - A Review of Current Developments, which reviewed current developments and some of the latest thinking in the area of internal control.

These two publications form the groundwork for the development of principles-based good practice guidance on internal control, which the PAIB Committee plans to issue in 2008. Internal Control from a Risk-Based Perspective can be downloaded free-of-charge from the IFAC online bookstore at https://www.ifac.org/store. A range of other publications on topics of interest to professional accountants in business is also available from the IFAC bookstore.

Founded in 1977, IFAC is the global 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 is comprised of 155 members and associates in 118 countries, representing more than 2.5 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry and commerce. The organization, through its independent standard-setting boards, sets international ethics, auditing and assurance, education, and public sector accounting standards. Through its Professional Accountants in Business Committee, IFAC issues guidance to encourage high quality performance by professional accountants in business.

To make information about its activities more accessible to a global audience, the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) has translated core portions of its website (www.ifac.org) into Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish. These languages, in addition to English, which is IFAC's official language, are the official languages of the United Nations.

Translated sections of the IFAC website include the home page, information about the organization, its structure, governance and membership, as well as key information about IFAC's independent auditing, ethics, education, and public sector accounting standard-setting boards. In addition, the home pages for IFAC's resource centers for professional accountants in business and small and medium practices have been translated.

"These translations mark a major milestone in IFAC's 30-year history," states IFAC President Fermín del Valle. "If we are truly going to meet our goal of developing the accountancy profession around the world, we need to provide as many members of the profession as possible with information in their native languages. This initiative is also central to our goal of achieving convergence."

"The translations of the IFAC website involved a strong collaborative effort between IFAC and its member bodies," emphasizes IFAC CEO Ian Ball. "The assistance of our member bodies contributed substantially to the accuracy and appropriateness of the translations."

The organizations extensively involved in the translations were:

• The Chinese Institute of Certified Public Accountants (Chinese translations);
• Délégation Internationale pour l'Audit et la Comptabilité, the international arm of the Compagnie Nationale des Commissaires aux Comptes and the Conseil Supérieur de l'Ordre des Experts-Comptables (French translations);
• Instituto de Censores Jurados de Cuentas de España (Spanish translations); and
• Saudi Organization for Certified Public Accountants (Arabic translations).

Comments on IFAC's website are welcomed at any time and may be submitted online at https://www.ifac.org/Feedback/.

About IFAC
Founded in 1977, IFAC is the global 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 is comprised of 155 members and associates in 118 countries, representing more than 2.5 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry and commerce. Through its independent standard-setting boards, IFAC sets ethics, auditing and assurance, education, and public sector accounting standards. It also issues guidance to encourage high quality performance by professional accountants in business.

This information paper features interviews with 10 senior-level professional accountants in business on their experiences and views on establishing effective internal control systems.

The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank undertook a significant collaborative effort last week by organizing an event in Mexico City titled Accounting and Accountability for Regional Economic Growth (Contabilidad y Responsabilidad para el Crecimiento Económico Regional or "CReCER" in Spanish). Over 450 individuals, including representatives of the accountancy profession, governments, the donor community, and academia from 27 Latin American and Caribbean countries as well as 16 other countries participated in this event.

"This conference was a landmark event for the Latin American and Caribbean region. Never before have public and private sector representatives from the accounting and auditing profession come together under one roof to discuss the issues facing the region," states IFAC President Fermín del Valle.

Participants indicated that combating poverty and developing stable economies are the two fundamental and interrelated challenges facing Latin American and Caribbean nations. Discussions focused on achieving quality financial reporting in the private and public sectors, the needs of the accountancy profession in the region, the role of the government in accountancy and accountancy development, and the importance of sustaining good governance and ethics.

"The conference resulted in a unanimous commitment by international stakeholders to support the improvement of financial reporting and to actively foster economic development in the region. We also heard a clear commitment from participants for convergence to international standards," added Mr. del Valle.

Other outcomes of the meeting included agreement on the following:

• The need for increased input from the Latin American and Caribbean region into international standard setting;
• The development of a single set of high quality Spanish translations of all international standards; and
• Collaboration among countries in the region as well as sustaining relationships with regional and international partners as a requisite for success.

IFAC's Developing Nations Committee and staff will be considering the outcomes of the conference as it advances its work program in the region. Copies of all presentations made at CReCER will be available here shortly.

Founded in 1977, IFAC is the global 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 is comprised of 155 members and associates in 118 countries, representing more than 2.5 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry and commerce. Through its independent standard-setting boards, IFAC sets international standards on ethics, auditing and assurance, education, and public sector accounting. It also issues guidance to encourage high quality performance by professional accountants in business.