Chartered Institute of Management Accountants

10 November 2006

CIMA Fellow Bill Connell, Chairman of the International Federation of Accountant’s Professional Accountants in Business Committee and Charles Tilley, Chief Executive at CIMA and IFAC Board Member, will be promoting the business accounting agenda at the World Congress of Accountants (13 – 16 November).

The World Congress takes place every four years and will be held in Istanbul this year, with over 6,500 accounting professionals expected to attend.

Charles Tilley will be chairing the Corporate Social Responsibility workshop. He will discuss how, since the Stern Review was presented to the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the relationship between climate change and economic growth has come to the fore. Charles will talk about CIMA’s agreement with some of Stern’s conclusions, the way in which his recommendations could create significant business opportunities and how, ultimately, the world does not need to choose between combating climate change and pursuing economic growth. He will say that the impact of climate change and the strategies which companies need to adopt are of potential significant interest to investors and, if material, should be included in the narrative element of the external reporting package.

Charles Tilley will also be speaking on a panel about The Business Reporting Model of the Future, where he will discuss the limitations of the current reporting model, the demands from the market for enhanced reporting and the merits of other models for corporate reporting which have been proposed by various groups. 

Charles Tilley, Chief Executive at CIMA, comments:

“All the models of corporate reporting which are being developed by various interest groups share two characteristics - a consensus on the deficiencies of traditional financial reporting, and recognition of the importance of narrative reporting. CIMA views narrative reporting as the essential bridge between the information which is used by the Board to manage the business and create value and the information which is reported externally to investors. A variety of reporting models is no bad thing at this stage of development, but soon there will have to be a shake-out so that some common practices emerge as desirable. Those desirable practices will form the basis for subsequent regulatory requirements, intended to achieve consistency between entities. CIMA has been very supportive of principles-based and flexible narrative reporting requirements and our R&D and lobbying activities have been directed to promote such requirements.”

Bill Connell will be speaking on how Enterprise Risk Management represents a fundamental shift in the way business must approach risk. He will discuss how, as the economy becomes more service driven and globally orientated, businesses cannot afford to let new, unforeseen areas of risk remain unidentified. Bill will speak about how different organisations are choosing to implement an Enterprise Risk Management process to ensure that a uniform approach to risk identification, measurement and treatment is utilised across the entire organisation.

Bill Connell will also be speaking on The Professional Accountant in Business and Corporate Ethical Behaviour. During the panel Bill will discuss how all professional accountants are required to follow the Code of Ethics. He will draw on his experience as Chairman of the International Federation of Accountants’ Professional Accountants in Business to talk about how professional accountants in business can play an active role in encouraging the entities within which they operate to adopt leading edge corporate codes of conduct along with offering his experiences of best practices. IFAC’s PAIB Committee has recently issued proposed new good practice guidance on ‘Defining and Developing a Code of Conduct’.

 ENDS

For further information, please contact:
Katie Scott
Senior Press Officer, CIMA
+44 (0) 20 8849 2347
Katie.Scott@cimaglobal.com

Notes to editors

1. CIMA (the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) is the only international accountancy body with a sole focus on business.  It is a world leading professional institute that offers an internationally recognised qualification in management accountancy, focusing on accounting in business, in both the private and public sectors. CIMA is the voice of over 155,000 members and students in 158 countries and is responsible for the education and training of management accountants who work in industry, commerce and not-for-profit and has more members in the public sector than any other UK based body.  CIMA prides itself on the commercial relevance of its syllabus, which is in tune with the activities of high performance organisations, and evolves continually to reflect the latest developments in global business.  It is committed to upholding the highest ethical and professional standards of members and students, and to maintaining public confidence in management accountancy.  For more information about CIMA, please visit www.cimaglobal.com.

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