Preface

For close to three decades, the United Nations has been contributing towards promoting high-quality corporate reporting through its Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting (ISAR). In the wake of the financial crisis, we have come to realize again the critical importance of high-quality corporate reporting for fostering investor confidence, facilitating international flows of financial resources and contributing to the maintenance of a stable economic environment. It is now widely recognized that many flawed private sector financial instruments, along with inadequately designed public sector monetary policies were at the core of the recent financial crisis, so more transparency in these areas would certainly have helped, if not to avert the crisis at least to minimize its negative impacts. In this sense, a strong reporting system helps to reduce corruption and mismanagement of resources. The lessons learnt from the economic crisis should not be lost.

Related Subject(s): International Trade and Finance