PAIB Committee Meeting Highlights
October 2006
Contacts:
Stathis Gould stathisgould@ifac.org
Vincent Tophoff vincenttophoff@ifac.org
The Professional Accountants in Business (PAIB) Committee met in
New York on October 2-4, 2006. This summary is for information
purposes and addresses
Vincent Tophoff
the current
vincenttophoff@ifac.org
state of discussions on projects,
which might change after further deliberation.
IFAC KnowledgeNet
Vincent
Tophoff –vincenttophoff@ifac.org
A live demonstration
of IFACnet
A KnowledgeNet for Accountants in
Business (www.ifacnet.com) took place at the beginning of the meeting.
IFAC Chief Executive Ian Ball and Chief Communications Officer
Helene Kennedy attended this session, and Ms. Kennedy provided the
Vincent
Tophoff
vincenttophoff@ifac.org
committee with an
update
on communications
and marketing activities
to promote the launch of IFACnet and to support participating member
bodies in announcing the launch. Committee members provided reports
on their member body’s participating in IFACnet and efforts to promote
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Tophoff
vincenttophoff@ifac.org
this new service to
individual
members.
The committee also discussed the planned expansion of IFACnet and the
addition of other member bodies’ resources. A further six member
bodies and two regional bodies will be invited to join the current
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participants in the coming weeks with more planned before the end of
the year.
PAIB Committee Pronouncements
Vincent Tophoff vincenttophoff@ifac.org
The committee agreed to a long-term work program based on
developing principles-based pronouncements. An overarching
framework of International Management Accounting Principles, which
will be developed over time, will provide a framework for two planned
document types: Vincent Tophoff vincenttophoff@ifac.org

International Management Accounting Statements (IMAS)
relating to core management accounting topics. IMAS will
determine a body of knowledge for management accounting and
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financial management; and
Vincent Tophoff vincenttophoff@ifac.org

PAIB Principles-Based Good Practice Guidance covering topics
that involve the professional accountant in business (PAIB) in a
multi-disciplinary team in which a PAIB might lead, but does not
own the knowledge domain.
In developing these publications, the committee will continue to
evaluate the titles and branding of these document types to ensure
relevance to professional accountants in business.
An explanatory memorandum including a proposed preface document
will be exposed early in 2007 for public comment signaling IFAC’s aims
and objectives in delivering this program, and providing detail on scope,
authority and due process. Principles-Based Good Practice Guidance on
Defining and Developing a Code of Conduct will be launched at the
World Congress of Accountants to support the workshop chaired by Bill
Connell on the PAIB and corporate ethical behavior.
Risk Management and Internal Controls
The committee discussed the development of a new paper on internal
control, Learning from Successes, which will include interviews of
managers in organizations that have embodied good practice in risk
management and internal control so it is integrated and embedded into
management processes. This will be particularly apt at a time when
internal control practice is in danger of losing credibility from
overregulation and widespread bad practice.
Sustainability
The committee discussed its three-year sustainability action plan and
agreed to revised it in light of the two information papers published this
year to help PAIBs understand the importance of sustainability and to
provide good practice examples and role models to encourage a more
active participation. Two key aspects to our discussions are a) the scope
and potential topic selection for principles-based guidance, and b) the
possible integration of this topic into other areas of committee projects.
For example, sustainability management accounting and full cost
accounting could be absorbed by IMAS related to costing. Another
example is risk management and internal control related to sustainability
issues could be embedded into overall management processes.
Public Sector Considerations
The committee approved a scoping project to establish performance
measurement structures in the public sector. The research would collect
examples of the way in which public sector performance is assessed,
monitored and reported in a wide range of jurisdictions. This could help
to identify specific public sector considerations in the work of the
committee generally and in relation to IMAS and PAIB Principles-Based
Good Practice Guidance.
Medium-sized Entity Considerations
The committee agreed to publish its study into the behaviors and
characteristics of a typical medium-sized organization. These will be
categorized, for example into financial, governance, work force,
customer, processes and strategic considerations. The proposed
publication will also use interviews of CFOs/Finance Directors of
medium-sized entities to identify burning platforms and to establish how
they have worked their way to dealing with the important issues facing
medium-sized entities and to understand better their perspective on
organization evolution. This should provide the groundwork to the
committee’s discussions on the potential service requirements in this
sector and determine particular considerations and points of interest in
producing International Management Accounting Statements and
Principles-Based Good Practice Guidance.
Date of Next Meeting
The next PAIB Committee meeting will be held on March 26-28, 2007
and will be hosted by the Royal Nivra in Amsterdam.