The objective of the seminar is to use the Annual Meetings as a forum to promote fiscal transparency and to increase the awareness of IPSAS as a global public good and a tool for development.  The discussion will focus on the benefits that governments could derive from implementing IPSAS and the involvement of multilateral institutions with the IPSAS Board. There will also be an opportunity to seek feedback from the World Bank’s clients on their specific needs, their views of IPSAS, and the impediments which they may face with regard to adopting IPSAS and/or other accounting standards. The IMF will also be using this forum to launch the new Fiscal Transparency Code. 

Bertrand Badré, Managing Director of Finance and World Bank Group Chief Financial Officer, will provide welcoming remarks. Gerd Schwartz, Deputy Director, Fiscal Affairs Department at the International Monetary Fund, will be a key note speaker for the event.  

The event will comprise two panel discussions. The panelists will share their views on the importance of fiscal transparency in light of the lessons learned from the recent financial crisis and the IMF’s efforts to revitalize the fiscal transparency agenda through revisions to its Fiscal Transparency Code and development of a new Fiscal Transparency Assessment. 

The first panel, moderated by Richard Hughes, Head of the IMF’s Public Financial Management Division, will look at the role of international institutions, rating agencies, think tanks, and civil society organizations in promoting greater fiscal disclosure by governments.

The panel chaired by Mr. Charles McDonough, Vice-President and Controller of the World Bank, will focus on the importance of accrual accounting, opportunities and challenges with its implementation and role that the International Public Sector Accounting Standards play for transparency and quality of government accounting.