Next month Dubai plays host to the annual World Accounting Summit, where industry experts will gather to assess the progress of standards’ implementation…
Deloitte Audit Partner Abbas Ali Mirza started the first World Accounting Summit in 2005.
THE APPOINTMENT of Dr Abdulrahman Al Humaid as a Trustee of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation is a very significant step for the further development of IFRS in the Middle East.
At the same time it is a recognition and confirmation for the efforts put in by professionals and organisations to introduce IFRS in the region over the last years.
In particular, IIR Middle East is continuing to support the introduction and knowledge sharing about IFRS with their forthcoming annual IFRS World Accounting Summit.
Topics of discussion
The original idea goes back to the foresight of Abbas Ali Mirza who started the first summit in 2005 and still acts as the chair for the 9th Summit to be held May 20 to 23, 2013 at the Mövenpick Hotel Jumeirah Beach in Dubai.
Over the past nine years, a number of world leaders in accounting and International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) board members have participated in the event. The concept of the summit is simple: industry professionals, accounting firms, international accounting bodies and international organisations present the latest developments affecting IFRS projects, implementation and education issues. These speeches are supported by workshops and master classes on specific subjects. However, most importantly are peer contacts created during the summit.
This year’s summit focuses on crucial subjects, such as Financial Instruments (including Fair Value Measurements), Revenue Recognition, Business Combinations and Consolidation and Leasing. Interpretation of IFRS, political developments and IFRS first time adoption are also discussed.
Bonus for participants
Practical applications are shown in case studies for industries such as real estate, banks and financial services, telecoms and oil and gas. As a bonus, each participant will receive a concise list of updates and proposed IFRS changes to take away.
The IASB and IFRS Foundation are supporting the infrastructure for the implementation of IFRSs: A translation of the IRFSs and IFRS for SMEs into Arabic, and an Arabic IFRS XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) taxonomy and learning materials are available on the www.irfs.org website. See also
https://www.thecfome.com/special-reports/how-many-capitals-do-we-need/
This year’s international key note address will be delivered by Tatiana Krylova, Head of the Enterprise Branch, Division on Investments and Enterprise, United Nation Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
She will discuss the following subjects:
- What are the institutional, regulatory and human resource requirements necessary for developing countries to fully converge with global accounting and reporting systems?
- What is the ‘accounting development toolkit’?
- How is it designed to strengthen accounting infrastructure for achieving high-quality corporate reporting.
These are important issues for the further progress in the implementation and use of IFRSs and IFRSs for SME’s.
There is already a great deal of discussion on IFRS on company websites, social and professional websites and obtaining various certifications with IFRS content.
Compared to other regions, what is needed is a concentrated effort by regulators to consolidate regulation and enforcement to support the various efforts and further building of an IFRS infrastructure.
And don’t forget: IFRSs 10, 11, 12 and 13 are effective for annual periods on or after January 1, 2013. So – implement NOW! – By
Kurt Ramin, MBA, CFE, CPA
