UN weighs in on charities row
The UN is set to consider corporate social responsibility reporting when its accounting body meets next week
The move follows a campaign by Publish What You Pay for country-by-country
reporting of corporate revenues and tax bills.
The topic is set to be discussed at next week’s meeting of the International
Standards of Accounting and Reporting, a working group of the United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
The IASB last week confirmed it would involve the UN, World Bank and IMF in
its work on the country-by country submission.
The IASB has so far formed a working group – constituting board members
Robert Garnett, Gilbert Gélard and Anthony Cope – to review PWYP’s submission.
Garnett will also be a speaker at UNCTAD’s meeting next week of 250 delegates
from 80 countries, which will also be attended by Big Four firms, UNEP, IFAC,
the European Commission, German Accounting Standards Board, and Hermes.
Anthony Miller, a UN economic affairs adviser, said that when it came to
disclosure, auditing tended to be on the lowest rung of areas companies reported
on.