I am very proud to have the honor of presenting the IFAC Sempier Award to a professional who I deeply respect for her dedication to this profession.

She is a person of impeccable character and great courage. For the past 40 years she has helped our profession address ethical issues at both a national and international level, doing so with the utmost integrity. For 10 years, she served on IFAC’s Ethics Committee – now the International Ethics Standards Board of Accountants – including five years as its chair. And she served as chair during some of the most challenging times in our profession’s history. Under her leadership, in January 2002, IFAC issued a major revision to its Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants, including a conceptual framework approach for independence requirements for assurance engagements. This approach has now been incorporated throughout the entire IFAC Code of Ethics.

Her work on ethical issues has not been confined to IFAC. Prior to her work with IFAC, she was chairman of the Ethics Committee of the American Institute of CPAs.

I would now like to invite Marilyn Pendergast, the IFAC Sempier Award winner, to join me on the stage.

Marilyn, I highly respect and admire you. Thank you for all you have done. It has been good for the profession. More importantly, it has been good for the public that we serve.

On behalf of IFAC, please accept this award in recognition of your contributions to IFAC and this great profession of ours.

Congratulations Marilyn.

The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) awarded Marilyn A. Pendergast, CPA, the Sempier Award for outstanding contributions to the international accountancy profession. She is a senior partner with the accounting firm of UHY LLP and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). Ms. Pendergast is only the fourth person to receive this award, which was presented today at the 17th World Congress of Accountants in Istanbul, Turkey. She was selected from among nominations submitted by IFAC's 160 member bodies in 120 countries worldwide.

The award is named after Robert Sempier, the first chief executive of IFAC, who was also the recipient of the first award. Ms. Pendergast has a distinguished career within the profession and is recognized both nationally and internationally for her leadership on ethical issues. She served as a member of IFAC's Ethics Committee (now the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants) for 10 years and was its Chair from 1999 to 2004. During this time, Ms. Pendergast led the committee in restructuring and updating the international IFAC Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants, including the adoption of a principles-based approach to independence, to ensure the Code's relevancy in the global marketplace. The Code of Ethics applies to all the 2.5 million professional accountants worldwide who are members of IFAC member bodies.

"Ms. Pendergast demonstrated her continuing commitment to the global profession through her leadership of IFAC's Ethics Committee during a time of renewed focus on ethics and independence," states IFAC President Fermín del Valle. "By listening to the perspectives of outside stakeholders and bringing together national viewpoints, she led the development of a code of ethics that is truly global. She has made a real and lasting contribution to the international ethics standards that we have today and which are vital to the accountancy profession's efforts to protect the public interest."

In addition to her service on the IFAC Ethics Committee, Ms. Pendergast served on the Ethics Committee of the AICPA for ten years, including four years as Chair. Within the AICPA, Ms. Pendergast has been an important advocate for understanding international issues in the United States. She is a past member of the AICPA's Board of Directors and its Council. She also served as the first female president of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants in 1994. Ms. Pendergast, who has close to 40 years of public accounting experience, is a partner with UHY LLP, a CPA firm in Albany, New York. She is a national leader of the firm's government, higher education and non-profit practices.

Today, Ms. Pendergast continues to support the development of the profession both nationally and internationally. She currently represents UHY International, a global network of firms, as a member of the IFAC Transnational Auditors Committee, which plays an important role in encouraging member firms to meet high standards of international practice. She is the Chair of the AICPA's International Strategy Committee and continues to make presentations on ethics issues throughout the world.

About IFAC

IFAC is the worldwide organization for the accountancy profession dedicated to serving the public interest by strengthening the profession and contributing to the development of strong international economies. IFAC's current membership consists of approximately 160 professional accountancy bodies in 120 countries, representing more than 2.5 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry and commerce. IFAC, through its independent standard-setting boards, sets international standards on ethics, auditing and assurance, education, and public sector accounting. It also issues guidance to encourage high-quality performance by professional accountants in business.

PROGRAM 

• The current reporting model
• Issues of technology – XBRL
• Risk involved
• Audit and assurance issues
• Scenarios for the use of interactive data
• The impact of the future reporting model on the assurance standards
• Proposals for assurance framework for electronic business reporting
• Call to action

Overview

As part of its comprehensive program to enhance the clarity of international standards, the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB), an independent standard-setting board under the auspices of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), has issued three exposure drafts of proposed International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) that follow its new clarity drafting conventions. These exposure drafts form part of the IAASB's ambitious 18-month program to redraft existing standards and to develop new and revised standards following the new drafting conventions. The IAASB developed the new drafting conventions after extensive consultation with interested parties, including its Consultative Advisory Group and national auditing standards setters, on how to enhance the clarity of its pronouncements.

Key elements of the new drafting conventions include: basing the standards on objectives, as opposed to procedural considerations; using the word "shall" to identify requirements that the professional accountant is expected to follow in the vast majority of engagements; eliminating the present tense to describe actions by the professional accountant; and structural improvements to enhance the overall readability and understandability of the standards.

The following three proposed standards have been redrafted following the new drafting conventions:

• ISA 320 (Revised and Redrafted), Materiality in Planning and Performing an Audit;
• ISA 450 (Redrafted), Evaluation of Misstatements Identified during the Audit; and
• ISA 260 (Revised and Redrafted), Communication with Those Charged with Governance.

"The concept of materiality, the evaluation of misstatements identified during the audit, and high quality and relevant discussions between those charged with governance and the auditor are fundamental to an audit," explains IAASB Chairman John Kellas. "We believe that the proposed redrafted standards contain clear requirements and easy to understand application guidance in these very important areas."

How to Comment

Respondents are asked to comment on the application of the new drafting conventions only. Comments on all three exposure drafts are requested by February 15, 2007. The exposure drafts may be viewed by going to https://www.ifac.org/EDs. Comments may be submitted by email to EDComments@ifac.org. They can also be faxed to the attention of the Executive Director, Professional Standards at +1 (212) 286-9570 or mailed to IFAC, 545 Fifth Avenue, 14th Floor, New York, NY 10017, USA. All comments will be considered a matter of public record and will ultimately be posted of IFAC's website.

About the IAASB and IFAC

The objective of the IAASB, an independent standard-setting board within IFAC, is to serve the public interest by setting high quality auditing and assurance standards and by facilitating the convergence of international and national standards, thereby enhancing the quality and uniformity of practice throughout the world and strengthening public confidence in the global auditing and assurance profession. The Public Interest Oversight Board oversees the activities of the IAASB and, as one element of that oversight, establishes the criteria for its due process and working procedures. IFAC is the worldwide organization for the accountancy profession dedicated to serving the public interest by strengthening the profession and contributing to the development of strong international economies. Its current membership consists of approximately 160 professional accountancy bodies in 120 countries, representing more than 2.5 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry and commerce. In addition to setting international auditing and assurance standards through the IAASB, IFAC, through its independent standard-setting boards, sets international ethics, education, and public sector accounting standards. It also issues guidance to encourage high quality performance by professional accountants in business.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It is a privilege for me to be the chairman in this first plenary session, at this magnificent congress on the accountancy profession. Here with us this morning we have a panel of distinguished speakers, individuals who have already demonstrated their commitment to the development and growth of societies and economies around the world.

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. My name is Ian Ball, and I am the CEO of IFAC. It is a pleasure to be here today to talk about government financial reporting, a topic that is of great importance to me and one that is certainly receiving attention from the media, the public and governments themselves.

Thank you, Mr Birsen, for the very kind introductory remarks and good afternoon to all of you. I am pleased to be able to speak to you today on the topic of corporate governance and financial markets - a topic that continues to receive attention from investors, analysts, business leaders, regulators, and the accounting profession around the world.