Financial Transparency Coalition

On the International Accounting Standards Board’s (IASB’s) website, many CSOs including Eurodad have contributed to the IASB Discussion Paper on extractive activities, arguing in favor of a comprehensive country by country reporting standard for the extractive industries, a standard currently being reviewed. There are also contributions from other stakeholders that are openly opposed to such a standard. Interestingly, the World Bank also made a very assertive contribution, which strongly supports a country by country reporting standard in the extractive sector. World Bank strongly backs PWYP Proposals on country by country reporting The entire submission from the World Bank...

The European Commission has recently opened a consultation process until 23 August 2010 calling for views to modify a regulation that sets out minimum transparency requirements for listed companies. The Transparency Directive was adopted in 2004 with the aim of improving the information available to investors on companies’ performances to help them make investment decisions. Now, the so-called TOD Directive is under revision. Where the directive currently falls down As it currently stands, while the Directive covers a large range of firms, namely, those whose securities are admitted to trading on a regulated market, it only offers EU Member States the possibility...

The Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development called on the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) this past week to adopt Publish What You Pay's (PWYP) proposal to require a country-by-country reporting standard in the extractive industries (oil, gas and mining). The standards proposed by PWYP (and supported by the Task Force and many other NGOs) would require companies to disclose the payments they make to the governments in which they operate. These standards are vital in assuring that multi-national corporations (MNCs) pay a just amount of taxes and that payments made between their subsidiaries are both...

A new briefing sheet on who might be considered the users of accounts has been published by Tax Research LLP today. It’s available here. The briefing is, of course, produced in response to the International Accounting Standards Board claim that only capital providers can be considered proper uses of financial statements – all other users having to make do with the information capital providers need, as decided upon by the IASB. The paper argues that the IASB is wrong – and goes on to show that their claim is in conflict with their...