The 2005 Review contains the proceedings of the 22nd session of the Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Accounting and Reporting Standards (ISAR). During this session, the Group of Experts deliberated on two main agenda items:
- Review of practical implementation issues of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and
- Comparability and relevance of existing indicators on corporate responsibility.
The first chapter provides an overview of recent trends in the IFRS convergence process and highlights major practical issues that are arising in the implementation process. These include issues such as institutional framework, enforcement mechanisms and various technical challenges. The chapter was prepared with a view to facilitating discussions of the implications of adopting IFRS for developing countries and countries with economies in transition and assessing feasible implementation strategies that could enable them to meet international standards in enterprise accounting and reporting.
The second chapter deals with corporate responsibility indicators in annual reports. It provides an overview of the principal stakeholders of an enterprise and their information needs; explains the criteria for the selection of core indicators of common interest to stakeholders; and details the key topics and related indicators selected.
In chapter three, users of corporate responsibility reporting and their information needs are discussed.
The fourth chapter contains guidance on good practices in corporate governance disclosure. It covers financial and non-financial corporate governance disclosures, as well as disclosures regarding general meetings, and timing and means of disclosure. The chapter also contains a list of useful references on regional and international corporate governance disclosures.
In 2005, the UNCTAD secretariat conducted a survey on the implementation status of corporate governance disclosures. The findings of the survey are presented in chapter five.
On 24 November 2005, the UNCTAD secretariat organized a technical workshop on the practical implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The workshop addressed many technical issues such as first-time implementation of IFRS; measurement and recognition, including fair value measurement requirements; revenue recognition; and opportunities for cooperation and coordination in the implementation of IFRS. The event featured several leading experts in the area of IFRS. Articles contributed by panellists at the IFRS workshop are presented in the last chapter.
