Highlights from the IPSAS
Governance Review Group
Richard BELLIN
Cour des comptes (France)
PSC Meeting 19 June 2013
BACKGROUND
• The G 20 meeting in Moscow (February 2013) called to the
IMF and World Bank to report on issues of transparency and
comparability of public sector reporting
• An IPSAS Governance Review Group (IPSAS GRG) was
appointed to make recommandations on the Governance of
the IPSAS Board to the G20 (not the content of IPSAS)
• The GRG comes after multiple consultations made for years
on arrangements for governance and oversight for
International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS)
• The IPSAS GRG comprises representatives of the IMF, World
Bank, OECD, EU, IOSCO and INTOSAI.
BACKGROUND
• The members of the Accounting and
Reporting Subcommittee (ARS) received a call
for interest regarding representation of the
INTOSAI to the IPSAS GRG
• France’s Court of Accounts expressed its
interest and was officially accepted as
representative
• A first meeting was held in the WB Office in
Paris on 31 May
BACKGROUND
Questions raised during previous consultations :
• A competent and well-balanced standard-setting for
the public sector must respond to public sector
specificities
• Should Members of the IPSASB oversight/governance
body not be primarily from the public sector rather
than from securities and bank regulators?
• Should Governments and Parliaments and other public
stakeholders as national standard setters not have their
say in consultation on governance and standards
elaboration?
EXPECTED OUTPUTS
• To make recommendations to strengthen the current
governance and oversight arrangements for the setting
of International Public Sector Accounting Standards
(IPSAS)
• To enhance the perceived relevance, quality and
legitimacy of those standards and pronouncements
• A consultation document, seeking input from
interested stakeholders will be issued in the third
quarter of 2013, with a final report and
recommendations being issued and made public in
Spring 2014.
TENTATIVE TIMELINE
• By 30 June 2013, a draft public consultation
document on the IPSAS Governance will be
issued to the GRG for consultation
• By 31 July 2013 the public consultation document
should be issued for comments, with deadline
date of 31 October for submissions
• WB and OECD should prepare a draft report to be
discussed by GRG Members early in 2014
• A final report with recommendations should be
adressed to G 20 mid-2014
OUR THREE COMMITMENTS
 Make sure that all INTOSAI Members are
informed about each substantial step of the
GRG. This means that :
 We will inform ARS on dates of consultations and
deadlines
 We will stay available to provide and obtain any
information requested by INTOSAI Members on
the process
 We will offer to provide a feedback on GRG at
each INTOSAI relevant meeting that we will
attend
OUR THREE COMMITMENTS
 Make sure that the consultation and draft
report are submitted to each INTOSAI Member
for individual comment. This means that :
 We will act as dissemination points to ensure
that all INTOSAI Members are informed
 We will not answer for other Members : each
Member will comment individually the
consultations
Our committements
 Make sure that all individual comments are taken into
consideration to elaborate the report. This means :
 We will verify that all your comments are published on the official
GRG web site (we recommend that each INTOSAI Member copy us
with their comments while sending them to the GRG)
 We will verify that all your comments are reflected in the report
(the GRG will operate by consensus)
 We will make sure that enough time is allowed to SAI to inform
their Governments and other national IPSASB stakeholders
interested in providing comments (in many countries the national
public sector accounting standard setter is under the auspices of
the Ministry of Budget while being autonomous).
Thank you