‘Corporate account streamlining vital for better economic performance’

DUBAI - It is imperative for many developing countries in the world to improve on their accounting norms and regulate the form and content of company accounts, if they have to score high in their economic performance, said a senior accounting and auditing expert, yesterday.

By Sandhya D'mello

Published: Sat 11 Sep 2004, 10:50 AM

Last updated: Mon 6 Nov 2023, 2:18 PM

He said the accounting infrastructure in many developing countries is either weak or non-existent and this hampers their economic development.

Dezider Stefunko, acting chief, corporate governance and transparency section division on investment, technology and enterprise development, UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development), is on his visit in Dubai to attend ‘Emerging Global and Local Challenges: The Accountant’s Response’.

The event was organised by Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) in co-ordination with The Committee for Members in Industry of ICAI.

Despite the fact that a extraordinary effort was employed, more harmonisation and coordination between various accounting bodies are needed to improve the situation in the Middle East and the Gulf region, said Stefunko.

“More assistance was needed to strengthen capacity to implement internationally recognised accounting standards as well as best practices on corporate transparency and disclosure. The next session of International Standards of Accounting and Reporting (ISAR) will be held from 27-29 October.

The ISAR in its 21st session plans to discuss two main issues. The first issue involves review of the comparability and relevance of existing indicators on corporate social responsibility. The secretariat conducted a review of major existing initiatives on social indicators and organized informal consultations with an adhoc group of experts to seek their views on the comparability and relevance of existing indicators on corporate social responsibility (CSR). The various views presented during the consultations and some possible approaches towards harmonization of social reporting and making CSR indicators more comparable and relevant will be discussed under this agenda item.

The secondary issues include review of the implementation status of corporate governance disclosures and the role of such disclosures in adding sustainable value. After deliberating on implementation issues and the above-mentioned case studies on transparency and disclosures on corporate governance that were conducted in five countries, UNCTAD Secretariat has prepared a background report that highlights recent developments in corporate governance disclosures, presents the results of a survey of corporate governance disclosure practices at the company level, and outlines challenges in the area of implementation of good practices on corporate governance disclosure, Stefunko added.

The event for chartered accountants focused more on challenges that Middle East throws open for bringing in international standards for Accounting practices and for corporate Governance.

Prof Dr. Khawaja Amjad Saeed, president, South Asian Federation of Accountants, said: “At present, accounting practices are going to redefine the role with Information Technology playing a crucial role in prevalent accounting practices. The conventional accountants will soon be playing a role of Business Advisory.”

Abbas Ali Mirza, partner, Deloitte, said: “Financial scandals in West have created a lot of turmoil in world of accounting practices. In West, a concept of ‘Sarbanes Oxley’ a regulation for corporate governance has emerged and people are finding it difficult to implement it. However in developing nation the same regulation can be brought in with little modification to suit the prevalent accounting practices.