Financial Transparency Coalition

WASHINGTON, DC – In reaction to the recently released communiqué from the G20 Finance Ministers’ meeting in Paris last week, Global Financial Integrity (GFI) voiced disappointment and urged the G20 to move beyond “piecemeal regulations” and adopt comprehensive reforms to create greater transparency and accountability in the world’s financial system.

The importance of tax for development is widely accepted. It is also increasingly being acknowledged that a company’s approach to taxation is an integral part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Against this background Christian Aid has produced a briefing “Tax and Sustainability: A framework for businesses and socially responsible investors”. This framework can be used by ethical investors to asses whether a company’s tax policy is responsible in its design or implementation.

This fall is shaping up to be a critical season for financial transparency. As the Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development prepares for its annual conference on October 6-7, key decisions on country-by-country reporting are anticipated in the U.S. and from the European Commission. Meanwhile, international attention to tax loss facilitated by financial secrecy continues to grow as the global economic crisis drags on. Recently, PWYP Norway’s Piping Profits report highlighted the role regulatory gaps can play in shaping the tax strategies of multinational companies, often to the fiscal detriment of the countries they operate in. The report...

International oil companies such as the U.S. giant Chevron are beginning exploration off of Liberia’s coastline. However, this new research by Global Witness and Liberian Oil and Gas Initiative (LOGI)¹ suggests that while Liberia has come a long way from the devastating set of resource-financed civil wars that claimed the lives of 250,000 people between 1989 and 2003, serious governance problems persist, and the warning signs for the emerging oil sector are stark. Curse or Cure? How oil can boost or break Liberia’s post-war recovery shows that even before a discovery is made, there are deep-seated problems in Liberia’s oil sector: government officials and at least one company...