OREANDA-NEWS. March 4, 2008. The Introduction of Advanced International Expertise on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) into Accounting System of Turkmenistan International Conference was held at the Nisa Hotel.

The conference organised by the Central Bank of Turkmenistan and its partners – the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) brought together the representatives of the Turkmen Parliament, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economy and Development, the chief accountants of the state banks as well as the leading specialists of the Supreme Chamber of Inspection, the national ministries and departments and banking schools.

The foreign guests were the heads and experts of the representation offices of World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Monetary Fund, the European House and the EU TACIS Programme as well as the international experts in banking sphere, the principals of business schools and coordinators of the training programmes on professional development, who had arrived to Turkmenistan to take part in the conference.

Focusing on importance of the issues under discussion those speaking noted that improvement of the accounting system, in particular bringing it in compliance with the international standards was an important aspect of the economic reforms initiated by President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and aimed at strengthening and developing the financial sector. They said that the international financial reporting standards (IFRS) were the main instrument for entering the world market that was particular importance for Turkmenistan to integrate into the global economic system.

Nowadays, the international financial reporting standards developed by the IFRS Committee are recognized as an effective instrument ensuring provision of the transparent and unified information on the financial activity of various organisations and companies to their owners, clients and partners as well as potential foreign investors. For accountants playing the crucial role in this process improvement of the professional skills and qualification of national specialists including managing staff was of particular importance.

According to USAID Country Representative in Turkmenistan Ashley Moretz, the USAID Accounting/Certified International Professional Accountants (A/CIPA) Project was tasked to train high qualified accountants. Within the framework of the project launched in 2004 over 4,000 banking workers were trained, 130 specialists received the international certificates. Though the programme targeted accountants and auditors it provided the specialists engaged in the economic and financial and legal spheres as well as the employees of foreign companies with an opportunity to get good knowledge of the international financial reporting standards.

In this regard the reports on the best practice of the countries in transition to the IFRS were of great interest to the local specialists. Putting emphasis on importance of the current meeting and the mutually advantageous contacts established during the conference the participants expressed belief that co-operation in this field would be successfully developed.