Accounting reform

Over the last few years investors, companies, governmental regulators, international organizations have been increasingly calling for standardization of sustainability/integrated reporting by corporations and, in the longer term, by governments. They also see an urgent need to consolidate a wide range of organizations and initiatives currently involved in this agenda. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and focus on the sustainable recovery have helped to further cement this momentum.

Georgian businesses will prepare and publish management reports for the first time, starting 2018. This implementation step in accounting and audit reform contributes to increased transparency of Georgian market, expanding investment prospects and simplifying access to credit.

The Kyrgyz Audit and Reporting Enhancement Project (KAREP) is working to enhance the investment climate in the Kyrgyz Republic by increasing the availability of transparent and reliable financial information, raising the quality of audit services and building trust in the audit profession, strengthening financial reporting capacity, and improving the public accountability of state-owned enterprises. Funded by the Government of Switzerland through the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and implemented by the World Bank, KAREP became operational in September 2017.

A two-day workshop in Vienna on 26 and 27 April, 2018 convened together participants from each of the countries of two regional CFRR projects: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine as part of the Strengthening Auditing and Reporting in the Countries of the Eastern Partnership (STAREP) and Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia as part of the Road to Europe: Program of Accounting Reform and Institutional Strengthening (EU-REPARIS).

During the first week of May, the regional "Strengthening Auditing and Reporting in the Eastern Partnership" program hosted several knowledge and capacity events aimed at strengthening accounting and auditing profession in Georgia. Joining forces with the Service for Accounting, Reporting and Auditing Supervision (SARAS) and IFRS Foundation, the World Bank’s CFRR delivered two roundtables dedicated to the accounting education and professional development, as well as IFRS Workshop.

A PULSAR FINCOP organized Smart Interactive Talk (“SIT”) – a virtual workshop was held on July 10, 2018 on the subject of “accrual budgeting: advantages and disadvantages”. This subject had been identified as a priority area by FINCOP participants with particular reference to if and when countries should introduce accrual budgeting in the public sector and its linkages with accrual accounting. This discussion is particularly relevant for public sector accrual accounting policy makers and reform leaders to inform their decisions on the reform sequencing and planning.

Financial Reporting in Private and Public Sectors – Common Issues, Challenges and Recent Developments

A two-day workshop on November 28-29 convened participants from three regional programs, covering 13 countries, that is STAREP (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine), EU-REPARIS (Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia) and PULSAR (Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Georgia, Kosovo, FYR Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and Ukraine) [PULSAR joint workshop was co

During 8-10 October 2018, the World Bank Georgia Country Office hosted two delegations from the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Belarus and from the Service for Regulation and Supervision of Financial Markets of the Kyrgyz Republic (SRSFM). The delegations had a unique opportunity to learn about implementation of audit reform in Georgia from their colleagues from the Service of Accounting, Reporting and Audit Supervision (SARAS) in an interactive workshop format.

About 300 delegates including ministers of finance, senior government experts, and representatives of the business, professional and academic communities gathered today to discuss the role financial information plays in supporting economic development, regional and global integration of economies, and convergence of income and living standards between poorer and richer countries. The conference took place under the auspices of the Austrian Presidency of the Council of the European Union and was organized by the World Bank’s Centre for Financial Reporting Reform (CFRR).