Financial Transparency Coalition

Poverty ain’t what it used to be, nor for that matter where it used to be either. As the nature and location of poverty continues to change, the illicit financial flows agenda becomes all the more important for development. Historically, the vast majority of people living on less than a dollar a day (or $1.25, where the World Bank’s line is now drawn) did so in low-income countries (LICs); that is, in countries with per capita gross national incomes less than $1005. So: income-poor people lived in income-poor countries. Simples. And true: twenty years ago, 93% of those in...

A new strategy review by the Trustees of the International Accounting Standards Board has clarified that its financial reporting standards will focus on the needs of ‘investors and other market participants’. This is a slap in the face for civil society, which has repeatedly made the case for the IASB to properly address the needs

Developing countries should have a voice in the discussion on international taxation, writes David McNair of Christian Aid Sitting in New York's Harvard Club surrounded by tax lawyers is not one of the places you expect to find yourself when you sign up to work for an NGO. But there we were, surrounded by taxidermy, listening to a live pianist and discussing the ins and outs of negotiating tax treaties. The world of international taxation, despite affecting millions, is controlled by a small community of people. I have yet to meet a member of this group that is anything but decent,...

‘Give a man a fish’, goes the old saying, ‘and he’ll eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he’ll eat forever.’ In its time, this was a progressive message, arguing for sustainable development approaches over simple aid-giving, but it now sounds rather dated. Worse than the apparent gender bias is the underlying assumption that development solutions involve ‘us’ teaching ‘them’ how to avoid being poor. The thrust of Christian Aid’s work on financial integrity, and that of the Task Force and its other members,...