World Bank Helps Polish Financial Supervisors Apply International Financial Reporting Standards to Banking Regulation
Warsaw, September 1, 2010 — Today in Warsaw the World Bank’s Centre for Financial Reporting Reform (CFRR) opened a two-day workshop on the use of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for banking supervisors under the Swiss-Polish Cooperation Program.
During the workshop, participants will enhance their skills with cutting-edge techniques for analyzing financial statements prepared under IFRS and for using them to identify critical information needed for effective banking supervision.
This workshop is part of a project on institutional and regulatory capacity building for corporate sector financial reporting and auditing at the national level, which was officially launched in December 2009. The main goal of the project is to support reforms to the accounting and auditing system by helping Polish institutions to strengthen their capacity to implement the EU’s system of financial reporting. It will enhance knowledge of IFRS and International Standards on Auditing (ISA) across the wide range of participants who will attend the project’s specialized workshops and training events.
“Poland takes seriously its obligation to correctly implement the requirements of the acquis communautaire in the financial reporting area, not just as a matter of formal compliance, but also to provide the basis for sustained economic growth by improving the functioning of the internal market and reducing the risks of a crisis in the financial system,” said John Hegarty, the Head of the World Bank’s Centre for Financial Reporting Reform in Vienna. “The World Bank is pleased to be able to assist Poland in this challenging task by providing education and training to the individuals responsible for these activities.”
The World Bank has already held the following events under this project:
• A two-day workshop in Vienna on audit oversight and quality assurance issues on December 15-16, 2009. The workshop brought together officials with responsibilities for audit oversight and quality assurance from the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Poland and Slovenia. With the assistance of the Centre for Financial Reporting Reform, participants explored the need for support on a multi-country basis and individual countries’ specific needs for assistance.
• A course on drafting legislation in Warsaw in April and May 2010, which was aimed at enhancing the capacity of the participants to draw up and amend financial legislation and regulations.
The CFRR is planning to hold several further high-level workshops and cutting-edge training events over the coming months, with the next event for the Polish Audit Oversight Commission “Komisja Nadzoru Audytowego”, due to be held on September 22, 2010.
The project is funded by the Swiss Contribution granted to the twelve states that joined the EU from 2004 onwards. For Poland, the financial support of 10 million Swiss Francs, managed by the Ministry of Finance, will allow the World Bank’s Centre for Financial Reporting Reform to organize training events and workshops for around 6,000 participants over the 6 years that the project is planned to run.
