ACCOUNTANT_SUMMER18_AMENDED_PG12

INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC SECTOR ACCOUNTING STANDARDS
Public Sector
Financial Reporting Transparency
Communication
IPSAS
Financial Management
Good Goverment
Accountability
International Standards
and accountability characteristics. Adapting IFRS to the
local public sector would have therefore required much
more effort and resources.
Another option would have been to develop local
reporting standards which would have catered for
issues unique to the public sector in Malta. This option
would also have required a lot of resources, not to
mention that the changeover has been long overdue
and the development of a new set of standards would
have delayed the changeover even further.
Malta’s approach was seen by respondents as a natural
application of what was already available off the shelf,
adapted to the local context: IPSAS as adopted by the
Maltese Government. In this way, the limited resources
will be used for adapting what is already available and
internationally recognised to the local scenario. The
IPSAS Project Team is analysing each individual IPSAS
to apply it to the local context. Guidelines specific to
Malta will also be issued.
Since IPSAS originated from private sector standards,
they will require the same level of technical knowhow
from its users, particularly preparers of financial reports.
There should be more focus on training public sector
employees and on engaging qualified accountants to
maintain the new reporting system.
The adoption of IPASAB framework and IPSAS is
the starting point of the Government’s move to
accrual accounting. The Government can re-visit the
implementation of IPSAS after a few years, whilst
assessing the implications surrounding the eventual
development of EPSAS.
DR KEITH CILIA DEBONO
DR KEITH CILIA DEBONO IS A
CONSULTANT AT MITA, WITH
OVER 25 YEARS OF STRATEGY
SPECIALISATION IN VARIOUS
FIELDS OF NATIONAL INTEREST.
CYBERSECURITY IN THE AGE
OF DIGITALISATION
Synopsis: Digitilisation has brought about fundamental changes in global society
and the economy. Whilst ushering progress it has also brought about threats and
vulnerabilities that challenge cyber security and thus, overall stability. In the process,
cyber security cannot adopt a traditional ‘fortressed city’ approach but calls for
innovative measures that muster in strategic, legal, technical as well as behavioural
energies for effectiveness.
Digitilisation has permeated all spheres of society;
including politics and economics, as well as science
and culture. It has changed the way people live and
interact in their day to day lives. Technologies such
as the cloud, big data analytics, mobile computing,
the blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial
Intelligence (AI) are transforming the way of how
organisations manage their day to day business,
from decision making to customer service. They
have extended beyond the confines of traditional
ICT systems and functions, such as through their
access to sensitive data and in their conduct of
decentralised activities which may be critical in their
own right. Thus, digitalisation knows no personal,
functional, organisational and even national bounds;
creating in effect new challenges including those of
privacy and security. The resulting paradox is that
whilst society is more efficient as digitalisation
progresses, it is increasingly more fragile and
vulnerable to cyber related attacks.
Data breaches are increasingly one main
consequence of cyber-attacks, especially in business
domains that handle sensitive data, such as medical
and financial institutions. They may be a result of
social engineering methods which maliciously trick
users to provide unauthorised access or data; loss or
theft of mobile devices or media carrying sensitive
data; insider accidents by employees who may
mistakenly provide access to sensitive information
or lack of cybersecurity preparedness by business
partners.
54 Summer 2018