International Accounting and Reporting Issues: 2004 Review - Unctad

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This volume of the Review of International Accounting and Reporting Issues contains the proceedings of the twenty-first session of the Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting (ISAR), which took place in Geneva from 27 to 29 October 2004. The session deliberated on two main agenda items: comparability and relevance of existing indicators on corporate responsibility reporting; and the implementation status of corporate governance disclosures. Summaries of the Group's deliberations on these agenda items and the related background papers are presented in chapters I and II respectively. The first chapter provides an overview of major existing initiatives and regulations on corporate social responsibility (CSR) indicators and outlines the main issues raised by the examination of the comparability and relevance of those indicators. In particular, it discusses whether the comparability and relevance of CSR indicators could be improved by focusing on a limited number of fundamental common indicators, or "core indicators". The second chapter highlights developments in corporate governance disclosures that occurred after the twentieth session of ISAR and discusses challenges in implementing good corporate governance disclosure practices. In particular, it provides an overview of the main international initiatives in the area of corporate governance disclosures, including increasing trends towards convergence in the area of corporate governance disclosures, and discusses the status of implementation of good practices of corporate governance disclosures at the company level. The role of corporate governance disclosures in adding sustainable shareholder value is also addressed. In the light of the unprecedented transition to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) that many listed enterprises will be undertaking, particularly in the European Union, the secretariat organized a workshop on 26 October 2004, on the eve of the twenty-first session of ISAR, to discuss the implementation challenges of IFRS. Several high-ranking experts on these issues presented their views during the panel presentations. The World Bank granted us permission to publish in this volume its study on the implementation of international accounting and auditing standards on which their expert based his presentation at the workshop. This study addresses challenges to the successful implementation of international accounting and auditing standards which have been observed by the World Bank when carrying out the Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC) accounting and auditing assessments. It highlights the lack of a strong institutional and regulatory framework as a critical challenge in the implementation of international financial reporting and auditing standards. This study is contained in the third chapter of this volume. Also the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) granted us permission to publish in this volume a study entitled "Challenges and Successes in Implementing International Standards: Achieving Convergence to IFRSs and v
ISAs" which it published at the end of 2004. The study addresses a number of questions, including the following: How do we move towards international convergence? What obstacles need to be overcome? What systems and processes can help facilitate international convergence? What roles can the IASB and IAASB and national standard-setters play in ensuring that international convergence is approached in a systematic and, where possible, consistent way? That study is presented in the fourth chapter of this volume. The last chapter contains articles that address selected issues on corporate transparency. vi
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IV. THE ROLE OF CORPORATE GOVERNANC
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51 Chapter III A full and balanced
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ACRONYMS A&A Accounting and Auditin
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57 Chapter III regulatory backing,
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Accounting Standards: Illustrations
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J. Mismatch between accounting and
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Comparability of National and Inter
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Progress in Assessments 73 Chapter
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CHAPTER V CORPORATE DISCLOSURES: SE
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111 Chapter V corporate governance
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113 Chapter V amount of remuneratio
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119 Chapter V benefit or shift the
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121 Chapter V few dozen (or even hu
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The present preliminary Act that mo
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129 Chapter V "Siam" is the name by
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SEC or SET requirement 131 Chapter
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133 Chapter V Ministry of Commerce,
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Further problems 137 Chapter V need
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139 Chapter V result, the national
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International Accounting and Reporting Issues: 2004 Review - Unctad

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