Launched last year by the International Federation of Accountants^® (IFAC^®), the Global Knowledge Gateway^™ is a global hub for accountancy news, views, resources, and thought leadership from around the world. The Gateway now includes hundreds of original articles, brings together thousands of carefully selected resources and news items, and is growing daily.

Who should visit the Gateway? The Gateway is a place for professional and aspiring professional accountants, including students, and those working in business and practices of all sizes to:

• Access practical resources from around the world;
• Learn about emerging areas of the profession, like integrated reporting and Islamic finance;
• Stay connected to the most pressing accountancy issues and news of the day; and
• Interact by exchanging views, making recommendations, and sharing what they find with their own social networks. 

What’s New? If you haven’t visited the Gateway recently, it’s time for another look. Late last year, IFAC added a tenth topic area, Islamic finance, to increase awareness of the ethical principles, standards, and regulation around this rapidly growing area. In addition, the website is now completely mobile friendly for viewing on any tablet or mobile device. And, with the addition of Google Translate (in the upper right corner of the site), the entire IFAC website is now available in 80 languages.

In 2015, IFAC anticipates an increase in multimedia resources, such as videos and podcasts. Several videos are currently in production, including a three-part series with futurist James Canton. See Part I, “Create an Innovative Culture by Looking Outside the Profession.”

Your Portal to the Rest of the World In the Gateway, you will discover documents, reports, videos, audio, and links to hundreds of websites. All content is indexed by an easy-to-use search engine, and resources can be filtered by sub-topic, type, and source. In addition, you can engage in conversation forums and blogs to exchange views with professionals and experts around the world. Register to suggest and recommend content, join discussions, and subscribe to The Latest, our customizable, twice-monthly update on recently added content.

What Can You Learn on the Gateway?

The Gateway offers a mixture of expert opinions, thought leadership, technical guidance, and much more. It is organized around ten topic areas, including Audit & Assurance,  Ethics, Performance & Financial Management, Practice Management, and Risk Management & Internal Control.

The Gateway provides accounting professionals with practical information they can use to help them in their day-to-day business challenges, for example:

• Best Practices—Learn how businesses are managing their operations and delivering services in a profitable way.
• How-to Guidance—Gain insights into how professional standards and methodologies are being applied by experts and authorities in the field.
• Trends in the Accounting Profession and the Marketplace—Gain ongoing awareness about changes in technology, risks and opportunities, economic factors impacting the profession, and the regulatory environment.
• Content Development—Access a rich source of subject matter and research to include in presentations and speeches.
• Networking—Use the Gateway’s discussions as a way to engage in peer-to-peer contact and relationship building.
• Professional Awareness for Students—Use the Gateway as a study aid or research tool; it’s a convenient portal for students and those preparing themselves to enter the profession to access introductory resources and links to authoritative institutions

Register to get the most out of the Gateway and start building your knowledge and exploring the Gateway’s myriad features today.

The International Federation of Accountants^® (IFAC^®), the global organization for the accountancy profession with members and associates in 130 countries, recently joined a multi-disciplinary group at the CESifo Institute in Munich, Germany, to share past lessons of over-borrowing and default, and analyze present weaknesses in sovereign debt management. The discussion was timely in light of Greece’s debt crisis.

The participants―accountants, economists, finance specialists, lawyers, statisticians, and representatives of academia, business, governments, international organizations, and think tanks—held varied views on how to resolve Greece’s debt crisis.

IFAC supports the argument that Greece must build trust and confidence with all stakeholders by making transparency and accountability its most urgent and important reform. Whether the issue is political, economic, or social—accounting matters, and starting with the right numbers is essential to assessing the economic and financial consequences of alternative solutions. Thus, a fresh start for Greece should begin with government financial information based on accrual-based International Public Sector Accounting Standards^™.

To support greater awareness of the need for higher quality government financial reporting, IFAC has convened the broad-based Accountability. Now. coalition. Coalition member organizations believe there is a better way forward for governments of all sizes and it starts with equipping governments with the foundation for good financial management: transparent, accountable financial information.

About Accountability. Now.
Accountability. Now. represents a coalition of organizations that believe there’s a better way forward for governments of all sizes. It starts with equipping governments with the foundation for good financial management: transparent, accountable financial information that: captures the entire picture of funding commitments, now and in the future; facilitates wise spending; strengthens economies; and builds trust with their citizens. Better quality financial information and increased transparency won’t solve all the challenges of governing, but they will greatly assist government decision making and performance.

About IFAC
IFAC is the global organization for the accountancy profession, dedicated to serving the public interest by strengthening the profession and contributing to the development of strong international economies. It is comprised of more than 175 members and associates in 130 countries and jurisdictions, representing approximately 2.8 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry, and commerce.

A new topic area, Inclusion, Women, and Leadership, has been launched on the MOSAIC website to curate related resources and news. The global accountancy profession is able to fulfill its greatest potential when it draws members and leaders from the widest pool of talent—like any business. But the issue isn’t only recruiting diverse talent into the accountancy profession and workforce. It is also ensuring opportunities for growth, development, and leadership—fully incorporating the widest range of people into all aspects of the profession, and taking their perspectives, ideas, and talents into account. This is an issue for the entire profession and for all businesses. By including this critical area on the MOSAIC website, IFAC strives to support development and improvement globally.

The International Federation of Accountants^® (IFAC^®), the global organization for the accountancy profession with members and associates in 130 countries, today released the results of its 2015 strategy survey. The survey obtained the views of member organizations (including members, associates, affiliates, regional organizations, and accountancy groupings), Forum of Firms members, and other stakeholders to inform the development of IFAC’s Strategic Plan 2016–2018.

“The results of this survey indicate strong support for IFAC’s strategic objectives, key areas of focus, and activities,” said IFAC CEO Fayez Choudhury. “As we move forward with developing IFAC’s Strategic Plan 2016–2018, the insights provided will help us hone our comparative advantages and identify areas for new or intensified activities in response to key global trends—including big data, cybersecurity, and social issues, such as taxation policies—for the benefit of our member organizations and in the public interest.”

Key Global Trends

As the voice of the global accountancy profession, IFAC drives awareness of key trends and issues and the accountancy profession’s role in them, engages with member organizations and other stakeholders to generate discussion and debate, asserts the profession’s view, and advocates for the public interest. IFAC has identified a number of key global trends that have implications for the profession and asked survey respondents to comment on them. These trends, which will help shape IFAC’s strategy and activities going forward, include:

• increasing pace of change of information technology;
• volume and complexity of regulation;
• need for transparency and accountability in the public sector;
• shrinking tolerance for corruption;
• changing structure of education;
• changing demographics and competition for talent;
• shifts and uncertainty in economic power;
• increasing economic interconnectedness;
• desire for international harmonization and simplification of taxation rules;
• shifting focus from short-term to long-term organizational sustainability; and
• increased stress on natural resources.

Survey respondents agreed that these are key areas impacting the accountancy profession and identified additional trends, including:

• attracting and retaining talent and the impact on recruiting, training, and development;
• big data’s impact on accountancy;
• cybersecurity as an increasingly high priority and key risk;
• the impact of regulation on SMPs/SMEs; and
• the role of the profession in corporate governance, fighting corruption, and money laundering.

IFAC’s Global Comparative Advantages

There was virtually unanimous agreement among member organization respondents that IFAC’s vision remains appropriate. In addition, a significant majority of respondents agreed that IFAC is effective or highly effective in its areas of global comparative advantage—those areas in which it is uniquely positioned to spearhead initiatives because they demand a global reach, freedom from commercial interests, and the ability to create dialogue and debate. These roles include being the natural facilitator, a trusted intermediary, a credible convener, and an influential voice. In addition, a substantial majority said that IFAC’s current allocation of resources achieved an appropriate balance among the various priorities.

Activity Areas 2016–2018

The survey results showed a high level of support for all of IFAC’s current activities. All activities were rated as being “important” or “very important” by an average of 89% of respondents,  indicating that they believe these activities effectively and efficiently achieve IFAC’s vision and strategic objectives, leverage its global comparative advantages, and respond to the identified key global trends.

Respondents also weighed in on proposed activities that IFAC is considering for the future. These activities—from sharing knowledge on emerging trends affecting the profession to identifying knowledge gaps in relevant areas and forming collaborations to address them—clearly leverage IFAC’s global comparative advantages and were welcomed, with an average of 86% of respondents rating them “important” or “very important.”

The results resoundingly endorsed IFAC’s activities to speak out on behalf of the global accountancy profession, with an average of 95% of respondents saying that IFAC’s current activities in this area are “important” or “very important.” Proposed future actions in this area—including substantially intensifying efforts to promote the value of the profession and speak out on regulatory issues, intensifying collaboration with member organizations on public policy and regulation, and leveraging the IFAC brand to help promote member organizations to key national stakeholders—were also heartily endorsed, with an average of 90% calling them “important” or “very important.”

About the Survey
The IFAC Strategy Survey surveyed officers (generally presidents and chief executive officers) from IFAC’s members, associates, affiliates, regional organizations and accountancy groupings, as well as Forum of Firms members and selected other stakeholders. The survey results include data from respondents representing 85 member organizations—almost 50% of IFAC’s membership—who took the survey from March 21, 2015 to April 30, 2015. The full survey results are available on the IFAC website.

About IFAC^®
IFAC is the global organization for the accountancy profession dedicated to serving the public interest by strengthening the profession and contributing to the development of strong international economies. IFAC is comprised of over 175 members and associates in 130 countries and jurisdictions, representing approximately 2.8 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry, and commerce.

IFAC's survey obtained the views of member organizations (including members, associates, affiliates, regional organizations, and accountancy groupings), Forum of Firms members, and other stakeholders to inform the development of IFAC’s Strategic Plan 2016–2018.  The results indicate strong support for IFAC’s strategic objectives, key areas of focus, and activities and will  help IFAC hone its comparative advantages and identify areas for new or intensified activities in response to key global trends.