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Abu-Ghazaleh: IASCA’s Participation in the World Standard-setters Conference Reflects our Commitment to Contribute to the Future of the Profession
26-Oct-2021
LONDON - The International Arab Society of Certified Accountants (IASCA) participated in the World Standard-setters Conference (WSS), digitally organized September (27-28), by the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation in London, with the participation of 140 delegates worldwide.
Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh affirmed that IASCA’s participation in such a conference came in line with its vision that aims at providing the Arab labour market with Arab internationally qualified professional accountants. This goal will be achieved through sharing global experiences on the adoption and application of IFRS. That is in addition to the commitment of IASCA in boosting the profession by contributing to these international professional events.
During the opening ceremony, Mr. Andreas Barco, for the first time in his new role as IASB Chair, talked about the first three months of his mandate and discussed the Board's agenda for the coming years. Mr. Barco also shared his thoughts and highlighted the important role of the national standard-setters in providing insight, proposals, and information as a vital input to enhance IFRS.
During the conference, several important topics were highlighted, as Mr. Fred Neto, head of the Foundation’s Stakeholder Group, and Mr. Bruce McKenzie, member of the IASB, discussed with the National Standards Setters Board, how the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic affected the ways they deal with the IFRS Foundation and stakeholders.
The discussions on IAS 38 “Intangible Assets” and the need to address it were also elaborated. IAS 38 is more than 20 years old now, yet it has never been reconsidered, and other subsequent changes resulting from other projects were not addressed in this standard. Additionally, the importance of intangible assets, especially self-created ones, which increased exponentially over the past two decades, was highlighted.
For his part, Mr. Barco explained that many - if not most - companies around the world operate in the services sector; because in the capital markets the markets with the highest valuations, attract a lot of interest. However, we cannot accurately define the basis of consumption or value creation, which makes it a priority for the IASB to consider what should be done to enhance transparency in this field.
It is worth noting that the IASB organizes an annual conference for the world standard-setters, through which the experiences are shared on the application and adoption of IFRS, the agenda of the IASB is discussed, and some updates and enhancements of the IFRS are conducted. The conference also presents and discusses the feedbacks on the exposure drafts of the new standards.