Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi Accountability Authority (ADAA) — an independent body mandated to oversee transparency and accountability across Abu Dhabi Government - announced on Saturday that it will be hosting the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) meeting from March 11-14 in Abu Dhabi, making the UAE first Arab country to host this meeting.
ADAA was very keen on hosting this meeting as it enhances its’ efforts to improve the quality and basis of preparation of the financial statements at the level of the emirate of Abu Dhabi. In 2008, Abu Dhabi Government approved applying the International Public Sector Accounting Standards as a formal basis of accounting when preparing the Abu Dhabi Government Consolidated Financial Statements and the Financial Statements of all Government entities in Abu Dhabi.
Professor Andreas Bergmann, Chairman of the IPSASB said: “The emirate of Abu Dhabi is spearheading the improvement of government accounting, in the Gulf region and beyond, with the implementation of the standards set by our Board. I’m very proud of the key role ADAA is playing in this development.”
This meeting will be attended by IPSAS board members, technical advisers and observers from International bodies such as the IMF, OECD, INTOSAI, IFAC, the World Bank, etc.
The meeting aims at discussing important issues covering topics such as sustainability of government finances, public sector accounting conceptual framework, service performance reporting and discussion and analysis accompanying financial statements.
Since its establishment in 2008, ADAA has played an important role in working closely with government entities to develop and assist in the conversion of the basis of preparations of financial statements of government entities, whereby it conducted a review of all the standards used and their compatibility with the government entities’ operations and has accordingly given recommendations to adopt accruals based international public sector accounting standards when preparing its Financial Statements.
Riyad Al Mubarak, Chairman of ADAA said: “ADAA’s commitment to achieving its vision that puts it amongst the top five accountability authorities in the world obliges us to follow International best practices and standards as we aim at being recognised internationally as a role model for demonstrating utmost levels of transparency and accountability.”
He added: “Hosting the IPSASB meeting in Abu Dhabi is a global testament of the UAE’s respected status in the international scene and that we at ADAA are on the right path towards achieving our vision that we derive from our leadership’s vision.”
It’s worth mentioning, ADAA’s preparation of the consolidated Financial Statement of the government of Abu Dhabi based on a cash basis in accordance with IPSAS marking it as the first government in the Middle East to prepare its consolidated financial statement based on these International Standards.
