The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), the global organization for the accountancy profession with members and associates in 127 countries, today presented the IFAC International Gold Service Award to Sir David Tweedie and Stephen Zeff. The awards were presented at IFAC’s annual Council Meeting in Berlin, Germany, by Göran Tidström, president of IFAC.

The IFAC International Gold Service Award recognizes outstanding contributions to the accountancy profession.

In his remarks, Mr. Tidström highlighted Sir David Tweedie’s substantial contributions to convergence and to restoring confidence in financial reporting in the wake of the global financial crisis. In particular, in his role as chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), he was tireless in promoting the adoption and implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as the first truly global, high-quality set of accounting standards. He led the IASB during the implementation of IFRS by the European Union in 2005 and the development and publication of IFRS for Small- and Medium-Sized Entities (SMEs) in 2009. His work has helped improve accounting practices around the world, especially in countries where there is no tradition of accounting standards.

Tidström also highlighted the important contributions made by Stephen Zeff, a professor at Rice University, to the understanding of how the accounting profession, and financial reporting in particular, has developed internationally in recent decades. Zeff is a leading international expert on the history of financial reporting, and his historical perspective reflects several themes, among them the historical development of the standard-setting process, the evolution of accounting thought, and the maturing of the profession and practice of auditing. His research and published work addressing the unique problems and challenges confronting the accountancy profession has contributed greatly to the profession’s development worldwide.

“I am honored to present the IFAC International Gold Service Award to Sir David Tweedie and Stephen Zeff,” said Göran Tidström. “Their dedication and achievements have strengthened the profession internationally and exemplify IFAC’s vision: that the global accountancy profession is recognized as a valued leader in the development of strong and sustainable organizations, financial markets, and economies.”

About the IFAC International Gold Service Award
The IFAC International Gold Service Award was created by the IFAC Council in 2010 to recognize outstanding individual contributions to the accountancy profession. 

About IFAC
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. It is comprised of 167 members and associates in 127 countries and jurisdictions, representing approximately 2.5 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry, and commerce. 

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The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), the global organization for the accountancy profession with members and associates in 127 countries, today announced at the IFAC Council meeting in Berlin, Germany, that four new associates were admitted to the organization: Chamber of Professional Accountants of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Kazakhstan), Institute of Certified Accountants of Montenegro (Montenegro), Instituto Salvadoreño de Contadores Públicos (El Salvador), and Ordre des Experts-Comptables et Comptables Agréés du Bénin (Benin). One existing associate was admitted to the organization as a member: Institute of Financial Accountants (United Kingdom). With the admission of these new associates and move of an associate to a member—along with the merger of two Danish professional accountancy organizations, which took place in May 2011—IFAC now has 167 members and associates in 127 countries.

About IFAC

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 167 members and associates in 127 countries and jurisdictions, representing approximately 2.5 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry, and commerce. 

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IFAC Staff members recently visited Beirut, Lebanon on the invitation of the Lebanese Association of Certified Public Accountants (LACPA) to educate its Board of Directors and membership following recent changes in leadership.

IFAC staff held a number of meetings with LACPA leadership, general membership, and key counterparts of LACPA. Most importantly, IFAC Staff held two five-hour meetings--the first meeting with the Board of LACPA. This meeting covered not only the details of the SMOs, but included a working session for the Board, which identified and considered best practices and potential solutions which may facilitate LACPA compliance with IFAC SMOs and the finalization of an Action Plan.

The second meeting worked to raise awareness of the importance of the SMOs and to garner support among the general membership for the need for reform in-line with IFAC SMOs. One hundred and twenty participants attended this meeting to hear a formal powerpoint presentation on the SMOs and participate in an open discussion forum focused on LACPA’s leadership proposed plans to address areas of weakness.

The PAO Development Committee, in coordination with the Saudi Organization for Certified Public Accountants and with the generous support of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, held the Middle East North Africa (MENA) Professional Accountancy Organization (PAO) Development Roundtable Workshop in Dubai, UAE on September 20, 2011.

The workshop brought together PAO representatives from across the Middle East and North Africa to discuss the importance of PAOs in financial sector and economic growth; the importance of IFAC Statements of Member Obligation (SMOs); the role of the IFAC Action Plan process in strengthening PAO strategic planning and development; and the challenges and success factors for the development of PAOs in the region. This event drew 30 participants from 11 national-level PAOs, three local branches of global PAOs, UAE stakeholder organizations, aspiring regional organizations, and the World Bank.

This strategy and work plan sets out the vision, strategic direction and corresponding work plan of the International Federation of Accountants’ (IFAC) Professional Accountancy Organization Development Committee for the period 2011-2014. This vision exists within the context of the current and anticipated environment in addition to the perceived needs of Professional Accountancy Organizations (PAOs) in emerging and developing countries and their country contexts.

In 2006, the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) issued seven statements of membership obligations (SMOs) to assist ‘high quality performance by professional accountants’. The member bodies of IFAC, which includes national accountancy bodies from most of the countries in the world, were required to give their best efforts to abide by the SMOs, and failure to do such without satisfactory explanations would result in suspension or removal of membership. The seven SMOs issued by the IFAC covered areas such as audit quality, audit education, code of ethics for professional auditors, disciplinary procedures to be adopted by national auditing bodies, adoption of ISAs and IFRS, and accountability and auditing in the public sector.

Like many other researchers and academics in this area, I was also initially skeptical of the applicability of these SMOs in a less developed country (LDCs) such as Bangladesh, given that that these mechanisms, developed in the context of developed economies, would only work under assumptions of an efficient capital market, higher investor sophistication, and presence of effective second order institutions (such as efficient regulators, judiciary etc) that would complement such governance schemes. However, a few years down the line, it appears that some of these globalization attempts are actually producing results that might change the image of the accountancy profession in this impoverished yet economically promising nation.

This article was originally published in Business & Economy - Banking, Finance, Markets on August 1, 2011.

The IESBA Strategic and Operational Plan 2008-2009 sets out the activities of the IESBA for the period 2008 to 2009 following the completion of its current projects on independence and on improving the clarity of the IFAC Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants. The plan is set within the context of the overall strategy of IFAC.