WB PRESENTS A REPORT ON ACCOUNTING AND AUDITING IN ARMENIA
Sona Hakobyan

"Radiolur"
17.06.2009 16:56

The Report on the "Observance of Standards and Codes: Accounting and
Auditing" of the World Bank was presented in Yerevan today. Specialists
of the sphere presented the reforms in the sphere of financial
accounting and auditing implemented in the world and he countries of
the region.

Reference was made to the influence of the global financial-economic
crisis on reforms.

The report presents an assessment of accounting, financial reporting
and auditing requirements and practices within the enterprise and
financial sectors in Armenia. The report uses International Financial
Reporting Standards (IFRS) and International Standards on Auditing
(ISA) as benchmark and draws on international exercise and good
practices in the field of accounting and audit regulation, including
the EU member states, to assess the quality of financial information
and make policy recommendations.

"The World Bank will be with Armenia throughout the process of reforms
in the field of accounting and auditing," said John Hegarty, Head of
the World Bank Centre for Financial Reporting Reform. He underlined
that Armenia had registered great progress in this regard, but there
was still some way to pass. "The World Bank will be beside Armenia as
long as necessary. We are here to assist Armenia. The importance of
raisin g the level of financial accountability especially increases
under the conditions of the crisis, accounting and audit become
extremely essential, because they play a regulatory role. Crisis means
new challenges, the risks increase, their measurability decreases,
but we are sure we’ll work together to resist this," Mr. Hegarty said.

Head of the World Bank Office in Armenia Aristomene Varoudakis
expressed hope that this report would enable Armenia to improve
the corporative accounting and auditing, since these are among the
important prerequisites for the country’s development. According
to him, the corporative financial transparency is important for
the private sector, as well: it provides the investors with an
opportunity to properly assess the corporative perspectives of the
companies, increases their trust in private companies and promotes
the availability of credits for small and medium-sized businesses.

According to RA Minister of Finance Tigran Davtyan, accounting and
auditing are one of the most important spheres of the financial sector,
and their productive activity promotes the development of the economic
and financial system of the country. The Minister informed that
Armenia had been implementing reforms in cooperation with the World
Bank and other financial institutions to have the sphere correspond
to international standards.