Other business

1. Delegates at the thirty-third session of the Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting welcomed progress made by member States in implementing the UNCTAD Accounting Development Tool. They agreed on its usefulness in assessing national regulatory, institutional and human capacity requirements for high-quality reporting, and developing action plans and capacity-building initiatives to strengthen their corporate reporting environment. The Group of Experts encouraged the UNCTAD secretariat to continue updating the Accounting Development Tool, based on the feedback of member States on its practical implementation, and responding to new challenges in the area of sustainability reporting. It also requested UNCTAD to continue raising awareness of the availability of the Accounting Development Tool to continue promoting its application by other member States. In this regard, several delegates expressed interest in working with UNCTAD on implementing the Accounting Development Tool in their respective countries.
    
2. Furthermore, delegates reviewed progress made by UNCTAD during the intersessional period on the implementation of the technical assistance project entitled “Support developing country policymakers in the formulation of national entrepreneurship policies through the implementation of Entrepreneurship Policy Frameworks”, which includes a component on financial inclusion and accounting for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. The Group of Experts expressed its appreciation to the UNCTAD secretariat for taking the initiative to launch this important work stream, which builds on previous work that the Group of Experts had conducted in relation to accounting and financial reporting by micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. The Group of Experts agreed that accounting for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises plays a critical role in facilitating their access to finance that can enable them to expand, create jobs and contribute to sustainable and inclusive growth. The Group of Experts encouraged UNCTAD to conduct further work on promoting financial literacy and inclusion to support the access of small and medium-sized enterprises to finance, and to assist in building capacity of regulators and entrepreneurs in the area of accounting in the micro, small and medium-sized enterprise sector. It requested UNCTAD to provide an update on this initiative at the thirty-fourth session of the Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting.