This volume of the Review of International Accounting and Reporting Issues contains the proceedings of the nineteenth session of the Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts (ISAR), which took place in Geneva from 25 to 27 September 2002. The session dealt with two main agenda items – accounting for small and medium-sized enterprises and transparency and disclosure requirements for corporate governance.
At its tenth quadrennial conference, which took place in Bangkok in February 2000, member States requested UNCTAD to promote increased transparency and financial disclosure by encouraging the use of internationally recognized accounting, reporting and auditing standards and improved corporate governance. The Group of Experts conducted a preliminary consideration of corporate governance issues at its eighteenth session. The Group agreed to conduct further deliberations on the issue at its nineteenth session. A summary of the deliberations and the report discussed then on transparency and disclosure requirements for corporate governance are contained in the first chapter of this volume.
The Group of Experts has been deliberating on the accounting and financial reporting needs of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) since its seventeenth session. At its nineteenth session, it discussed draft guidelines for level 2 and level 3 SMEs. A summary of the deliberations on this issue and the draft guidelines that the Group discussed are contained in the second chapter of this volume.
The last chapter of this volume consists of three articles contributed by prominent authors on accounting and financial reporting. The articles discuss developments in accounting education and training in the Baltic countries; international accounting education standards and trends in global accounting education; and the International Accounting Standards Board and its proceedings.
