Quality of Governmental Financial Reporting Needs Significant Upgrading, says IFAC Chief Executive
The quality of government financial reporting is very poor and needs significant upgrading according to the Chief Executive of the International Federation of Accountants. In an interview with Accountancy Ireland published in the June issue of the magazine, Ian Ball was asked to what extent adoption of international public sector accounting standards might have helped prevent – or could in future help prevent – sovereign debt crises.
Asked by Accountancy Ireland to comment from an international perspective on audit developments in Europe, Mr Ball said that while there are aspects of the European Commission proposals and draft legislation that are helpful – such as the proposal to move to compliance with International Standards on Audit – there are other aspects that may have extra-territorial effects “which are not so helpful and which highlight the importance of having different nations and different regions talk to one another and try to move their regulatory arrangements and standards forward in a a consistent and coherent way”.
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