Review of recent developments in accounting and reporting

Through the Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting (ISAR), UNCTAD has been contributing to the global efforts aimed at promoting reliability and comparability of corporate reports. In the wake of the financial crisis, the call for more reliable and comparable corporate reports has been growing louder. In this context, this chapter reviews some of the major developments in the area of accounting and reporting that have occurred since the twenty-seventh session of ISAR which took place at the Palais des Nations in Geneva in October 2010. The review is based on publicly available information and is thus limited in scope. It does not present developments in this area that occurred in all member States. Section A of the chapter presents trends with respect to the implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards and related auditing issues. Section B of the chapter presents developments at a global level covering the G20, the Financial Stability Board, the International Financial Reporting Foundation and the IASB. Section C discusses major developments at regional and nationals levels and section D presents summaries of recent World Bank ROSC.

Related Subject(s): International Trade and Finance