Nutrición en la Adolescencia

As discussed above, in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis and several other crisis in Mexico, Russia and the United States, key actors in the financial arena agreed to a number of key standards aimed at stablizing the global financial architecture. These

Ø IASB: International Accounting Standards Board

Ø UNO: United Nations Organizations

Ø OECD: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

Ø IOSCO: International Organization of Securities Commission

Ø IFAC: International Federation of Accountants

Ø ACCA: Association of Certified Chartered Accountants

International

Ø FASB: Financial Accounting Standards Board

Ø SEC: Securities and Exchange Commission

Ø AICPA: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants

American

Ø ARC: Accounting Regulatory Council

Ø EFRAG: European Financial Reporting Group

Ø FEE: La Federation des Experts Comptables Europeans

Ø ESC: European Securities Committee

Ø CESR: Committee of European Securities Regulators

European

Ø WB: World Bank

Ø IMF: International Monetary Fund

Ø ABWA: Association of Accountancy Bodies in West Africa

Ø PAFA: Pan African Federation of Accountants

Ø WAEMU: West African Monetary Union

Ø BCAO: Central Bank of West African States

Ø CNC OHADA: West African Accounting Council

Ø WAMZ: West African Monetary Zone

Ø AfDB: African Development Bank

Ø CCOA: West African Accounting Council

African

standards did not only include financial reporting standards but extended to banking, insurance, risk and securities regulation among others. The establishment of the Financial Stability Forum (now the Financial Stability Board) to oversee this process led to several reforms in the finance sector not only at the global level but also in transnational and national arenas. An important intiative of the FSF was to task international financial institutions to help in the stabilization of the global economy through their existing networks particularly in developing vulnerable economies. In consequence, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund were authorized to monitor countries progress towards the implementation of the Forum’s 12 standards and codes and report on compliance via the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC) programme. As part of this initiative, the World Bank established a programme to assist its member countries in implementing international accounting and auditing standards (Zeff & Nobes, 2010, p. 178).

Consequently, in 1999 the two institutions launched the Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC) to check the level at which member countries comply with international standards accounting and auditing. From 1999-2005, they conducted 48 ROSC studies on accounting and auditing globally and by 2010, this number had reached 112 with 30 located in Africa alone. As at 2010, close to fourteen hundred ROSCs, including reassessments and updates, had been completed by the Bank and Fund in 178 member countries, territories, economies and regional groups considered of interest for the initiative (some three-quarters of which have now been published) (ROSC Review Initiative, 2011).

Figure 4: Completed and Published ROSC Reports. Source: ROSC Review Initiative, (2011).

ROSC Studies in Africa

Country Year of Publication Country Year of Publication 1 Ghana 2004 13 Madagascar 2008 2 Liberia 2011 14 Malawi 2007 3 Nigeria 2004/2011 15 Mali 2009

4 Cote d’Ivoire 2009 16 Mauritius 2003

5 Benin 2009 17 Morocco 2002

6 Botswana 2006 18 Rwanda 2008

7 Burkina Faso 2010 19 Sénégal 2005

8 Burundi 2007 20 Sierra Leone 2006

9 Democratic Republic of Congo 2009 21 South Africa 2003

10 Egypt 2002 22 Tanzania 2005

11 The Gambia 2010 23 Tunisia 2005

12 Kenya 2001/2010 24 Uganda 2005

25 Zimbabwe 2011

Table 6: ROSC Reports from Africa as at 2014. Source: WorldBank (2005)

The ROSC project has had tremdeous triggering effects on the accounting reform programmes of developing nations. It is described as the wake up call for financial accounting reforms in most developing countries (Andrews, 2013). In Africa for instance,

0 100 200 300 400 500

Europe Africa Asia Middle East Americas

the World Bank and the IMF have used this programme as an avenue for inciting governments, lawmakers and accounting standard-setters to conduct accounting reforms. Andrews’ work show that, though it is not mandatory to accept the findings of the ROSC reports, most countries welcome the the idea of identifying the gaps present in their accounting system by the ROSC programme and work towards the revision of such standards.

Both the IMF and the World Bank have tried to instigate accounting reforms in developing countries by tying accounting reforms as a condition to lending to developing countries. As it will become evident in the case study, such conditionalities have rippling effects on governments in that failure to comply with the adoption of IFRS reflects a general noncompliance with the conditions of these instutitions. Critical examples of such coercion and the use of conditionalities by the two Bretton Woods institutions to push for accounting reforms and the adoption of IFRS are the cases of Kazakstan (WorldBank, 2014c) and Bangladesh (Tyrrall et. al, 2007).

Neverthless, the conceptual basis for the significant exertion of pressure on developing countries to adopt IFRS remains in the domain of widespread poverty in these countries. International Organizations have long recognized that the route to poverty reduction in less developed countries does not lie only with the provision of aid and economic resources but also in the provision of technical assistance in the development of professions to contribute in the judicious allocation of provided resources and nation building. In consequence, this concept has led the Bank to pay attention to the role of financial management practices in these countries and how these could be improved to ensure adequate accountabilty of economic resources (see diagram below). Commenting on the role of the accounting profession in the reduction of poverty in developing countries, Executive Vice President of the International Finance Corporation (IFC which is the investment arm of the Bank) argues that; “we (IFC) have consistently found that there are two key elements which determine the success of IFC investment projects. These two elements are accounting control and management capability. Effective accounting controls and accounting practices tend to have a stimulating effect on the flow of foreign and domestic private capital. The impact which accountancy has, and the role it could play in overall economic development, is more extensive and influential than usually recognized” (Mir & Rahaman, 2005).

Figure 5: Conceptualizing World Bank Poverty Reduction Strategy through Accounting Standardization. Source: Adapted from the World Bank Presentation at the World Congress of Accountants 2010

International organizations are critical agents for the diffusion of international rules, norms, best practices or modes of governance. They serve as platforms for standardization organizations to reach out to a wider audience and persuade them on the potential merits of these standards. The IASB has long been a strong partner of the IMF and the World Bank in the move towards the globalization of IFRS. As early as the 1980s, the Bank contacted the IASC to discuss the possibilities of designing accounting standards suitable for developing countries particularly in the area of agriculture as most borrowing countries were agronomic dependent in nature. The work of Enthoven (1965, p. 30) shows that the Bank was willing to fund a common accounting standard that could be applied to a wide range of countries with which it engaged its lending activities.

Financial Accounting and Poverty Alleviation

Sound accounting & auditing practices ensure the availability of credible financial information

Improved Investment

Climate Improved Access to Finance

Financial Transparency and Accountability Capital Market Development Better financial Management

Financial Sector Regulation and Financial Stability

Poverty Alleviation

ECONOMIC GROWTH

Accountancy and Poverty Alleviation

Development & Delivery of Public Services Attracting Foreign Direct Investment G r o w t h a n d Development of the SME Sector

Enhancing the Effectiveness of Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability

Economic Growth

Poverty Alleviation

The World Bank also more conveniently initiated a twinning8 project across many developing countries but particularly in Africa and South East Asia where it partnered local institutions with the aim of developing their professional accounting skills. In Bangladesh, Tanzania, Malawi and Liberia, the Bank has worked to create strategic partnering programmes where it links less developed accountancy bodies with those of well developed professional accounting institutes such as the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICAEW) for the latter to assist the former in the development of its professional curriculum to meet international standards. Through the financing of these initiatives the Bank has created a platform for the diffusion of the IASB’s standards to local jurisdictions. An illustration is provided in Africa where the twinning programme between the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ghana and the Liberian Institute of Chartered Public Accountants sees the former mentor the latter in the development of its institutional capacity to accommodate the adoption of international standards on accounting, auditing and ethics is a classic example of the banks involvement in the diffusion of international accounting standards.

Taken together, international organizations have varrying incentives for pushing developing countries towards the adoption of international accounting standards. It is their belief that improving the financial information environment of developing countries has the potential to aid policy makers in taking investment and economic decisions towards the eradication of poverty particularly in cases where financial resources have been provided by these organizations. In lieu of that, the IASB, IAASB and the IPSAS boards have used these international organizations as an avenue to diffuse their standards among developing countries as they are major actors in the development agenda of such countries (Arnold, 2012; Judge, Li, & Pinker, 2010).

In spite of these initiatives to diffuse IFRS via international organizations, modest results have been achieved in some parts of the world. For instance in much of Africa, these organizations are still struggling to diffuse these standards in the countries they operate.

8 _{The word Twinning Project is not new in international policy diffusion literature. In the post war period,} European cities were often paired in accordance with those which needed development capacities and those who could provide such support for the latter to support the former in developing its institutional capacity. The World Bank defines twinning as a “process that pairs an organizational entity in a developing country with a similar but more mature entity in another country’’. It represents the establishment of an institutional relationship between an organization seeking assistance (the recipient) and an organization providing such assistance (the supplier) Camfferman and Zeff (2007, p. 43)

Why have international organizations been successful in some jurisdictions and yet been unable to achieve similar results as seen in other countries? What are the main challenges faced by these organizations when trying to diffuse international accounting standards in countries they operate or provide financial resources? These questions are addressed in the case study section of the dissertation.