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