Financial Management No

							                 25 May 2010
Promoting good governance…                                                                               Issue No. 7

 Activities
 Up-coming Brownbag: Tax Matters
 Tuesday 01 June, 11am, Rm. 4653                                 conference on Tax Reform for the Association of
                                                                 Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries will be held
 Teruo Ujiie, Senior Capacity Development Specialist will        at ADB Headquarters on 25-27 October 2010.
 present information on ADB's support for international
 tax policy and administration issues.                           This year, ADB will produce a stocktaking report on its
                                                                 tax policy and administration initiatives. This will be
 In anticipation of this brownbag event, Teruo has said          carried out in consultation with a wide range of internal
 "Effective tax systems support economic regulation,
                                                                 and external experts.
 macroeconomic stabilization, maintenance of law
 and order, redistribution of income and wealth,                 On 4 May ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda and World
 poverty reduction and higher living standards. ADB              Customs Organization (WCO) Secretary General Kunio
 therefore actively seeks to enhance the efficiency,             Mikuriya signed a Memorandum of Understanding
 fairness, and productivity of developing member                 (MOU) to strengthen the strategic partnership
 country tax systems".                                           between the two organizations to facilitate trade in
                                                                 Asia and the Pacific. The MOU, signed at the ADB's 43rd
 Given the fundamental importance of tax issues to               Annual Meeting in Tashkent (Uzbekistan), aims to build
 development work, we welcome attendance by any                  a more active partnership to make it easier to conduct
 interested members of staff.                                    international trade, which in turn will support long-term,
                                                                 sustainable, and inclusive development.
 1-Day Financial Management Overview Course
 Tuesday 29 June, 9 am – 4pm, LRC 3                              The MOU will see the two institutions cooperating more
                                                                 closely in areas relating to Customs modernization and
 Sound financial management (FM) plays a key role in
                                                                 reform, capacity building, and research and analysis.
 promoting aid effectiveness. This one day training
                                                                 It will also boost information and knowledge sharing,
 course will provide information on essential fiduciary
                                                                 staff cooperation, production of joint publications and
 and strengthening of country systems aspects of FM
                                                                 other knowledge products.
 and will provide participants with basic essential FM
 knowledge for preparation and implementation of                 Please contact Teruo Ujiie for further details on any of
 ADB projects and programs.                                      the above tax issues.
 In line with current thinking within the MDB community,         Initiatives
 the course shall focus on donor harmonization,
 development and use of country systems, FM                      Joint Governance and FM Brown Bag on PFM
 considerations at the country strategy level, fiduciary         RSGP's Neil Wallace and Hans van Rijn jointly presented
 obligations and fiduciary risk mitigation. Specifically         information on the World Bank's Financial Management
 there shall be four sessions;                                   Sector's involvement in Public Financial Management
                                                                 (PFM) and how this relates to ADB operations. The well
     o   MDB FM Priorities
                                                                 attended brownbag was held on 8 March 2010.
     o   Fiduciary Considerations - Project Planning
                                                                 Presentation materials are available upon request
     o   Fiduciary Considerations - Project
         Implementation
     o   Program Lending – FM Issues
                                                                   Technical Assistance for Public Sector Accounting
 The course is targeted at mission leaders, professional staff     Standards (Fourth Phase)
 and national officers, particularly financial analysts,
 accountants, project managers, controllers and treasurers.
                                                                   Approved on 16 February 2010, this TA will
                                                                   support the International Public Sector
 Taxation and Customs Issues                                       Accounting Standards Board's (IPSASB) 2009 11
 ADB continues to work closely with the OECD on tax                work program which continues to focus on
 related issues. In partnership with the OECD, ADB                 providing a series of accounting guidelines and
 Institute (ADBI), the Ministry of Finance of Japan, and
 the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation (IBFD),
                                                                   standards     to     improve    and    strengthen
 ADB is organizing the 18th Tax Conference on 5 to 8               accountability and transparency in public sector
 October 2010 at ADBI in Tokyo. Also in conjunction with           financial reporting.
 the OECD and the Philippine Department of Finance a
                25 May 2010
Promoting good governance…                                                                                 Issue No. 7

 RS-CDTA IFRS for SMEs.                                        the work of development agencies, including ADB, to
 The Confederation of Asian & Pacific Accountants              support capacity building of the profession and the
 (CAPA) represents professional accountancy bodies in          financial reporting framework. To subscribe, please go
 the Asia and Pacific region. Supported by ADB, CAPA           to    web.ifac.org/enews/subscribe.       Access    to
 delivered two ''Train the Trainers'' sessions in respect to   information on IPSASB activities can also be found
 the recently released IFRS for SMEs. The intensive and        through this website.
 interactive 3-day sessions provided a detailed
                                                               IFAC Releases New Tool for Reporting ISA Adoption
 understanding of the topic and equipped the trainers
                                                               The global adoption of International Standards on
 to replicate the training in their own country.
                                                               Auditing (ISAs) is well underway. According to data
 The focus was on (i) developing DMC's trainers'               recently released by IFAC, ISAs have effectively been
 capacity to provide subsequent training on the IFRS for       adopted in 126 jurisdictions around the world.
 SMEs in their own jurisdiction; (ii) equipping pre-existing
 local financial reporting trainers in the use of the
                                                                     Summary of the Basis of ISA Adoption by
 International Accounting Standards Board (IASB)
                                                                     Jurisdiction
 training material; (iii) engaging with other stakeholders
                                                                      Required by Law or Regulation       11
 including legislators and regulators to promote
                                                                      ISAs are adopted                    32
 adoption and high quality implementation of IFRS for
 SMEs; and (iv) providing a forum for interaction
                                                                      National Standards are the ISAs     28
 between trainers, for the sharing of experience and                  Other                               55
 the discussion of common issues in relation to the IFRS              TOTAL                              126
 for SMEs.
 The workshops were held in January 2010 in Kuala              IFAC have provided an overview of ISA adoption by
 Lumpur, Malaysia and Hyderabad, India. The                    jurisdiction, as well as other insights on how standard
 Malaysian Institute of Accountants and the Institute of       setting and regulatory frameworks vary worldwide. With
 Chartered Accountants of India assisted CAPA to host          24 ADB member countries included, this information is of
 these workshops. In Kuala Lumpur, over 50 trainers from       direct relevance to financial reporting on ADB projects.
 Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia,           This         information      is        available     at
 North Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea,            http://web.ifac.org/download/basis-of-isa-
 Samoa and Singapore attended. More than 30                    adoption.pdf
 leading professional accountancy trainers from India,
 Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka attended the event             We are inviting you to visit our improved website:
 in Hyderabad.                                                  http://www.adb.org/Financial Management/default.asp

 RSGP, working with IASB and CAPA will produce a                Contact Us
 knowledge product related to the IFRS for SMEs during          Public Management, Governance
 2010.                                                          and Participation Division
                                                                Regional and Sustainable Development Department
 MDB FM Harmonization Activities
 RSGP's Sandra Nicoll and Peter Talbot met with Samia           For Financial Management issues, please contact:
                                                                Neil Wallace, Senior Financial Management Specialist
 Msadek, Manager Financial Management, Central
                                                                Ext. 4341
 Operational Services Unit, East Asia and Pacific Region,       nwallace@adb.org
 The World Bank and 7 members of her Senior Financial
 Management Specialist team on Friday 16 April at ADB           Teruo Ujiie
 Headquarters. The purpose of the meeting was to                Senior Capacity Development Specialist
 discuss continued co-operation and harmonization of            Ext. 6167
 FM activities.                                                 tujiie@adb.org

 News                                                           Peter Talbot, Principal Financial Management Specialist
                                                                (consultant)
 Launch of IFAC MBD eNews                                       Ext. 70335
 The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC)             Ptalbot.consultants@adb.org
 have launched a new Member Body Development
 (MBD) eNews highlighting success stories and other             Lizzette Francisco, Financial Management Officer
                                                                Tel + 63 2 632 4849
 initiatives of IFAC members, associates, regional bodies
                                                                clfrancisco@adb.org
 and other accountancy groupings. It also highlights