13 November 2015 – The Philippine delegation to the 32nd session of the Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting (ISAR32) supported the call of the international community to promote sustainable corporate reporting as a means to help achieve the sustainable development goals during the recently-concluded ISAR 32 held in Geneva from November 04 to 06.
Mr. Joel Tan-Torres, Chair of the Professional Regulation Commission Board of Accountancy, said, “Sustainable corporate and high-quality financial and non-financial accounting reporting plays a crucial role in helping to attain the SDGs.”
The statement of Mr. Tan augurs well with the pronouncement of UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi, who stressed that high-quality reporting contributes to financial stability and promotes responsible practices, which are key to sustainable development.
ISAR 32 came at the heels of the recently-adopted UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, where the international community recognized the need for significant resources and investments in order to attain the sustainable development goals.
Relevant to certain SDGs, such as goal 8 on promoting full and productive employment for all, goal 12 on ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns, goal 16 on building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels, and goal 17 on revitalizing the global partnership for sustainable development, the work of setting globally-accepted accounting standards has been an important part of the process of promoting high-quality financial reporting. This is essential for the efficient allocation of scarce resources and for realizing the ambitions of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development.
ISAR 32 further underscored that accounting standard setters are part of the many groups responsible for improving the quality of financial reporting. Others include audit standard setters, securities regulators and relevant stakeholders. Without accounting standards and an independent process of improving the standards, financial information would be ambiguous and capital markets would be less efficient.
ISAR 32 concluded that with better auditing and reporting, companies can be more effective and will be able to contribute to the attainment of the SDGs, which would require the involvement of all players, including the government, private sector and civil society, among others. END