Lack of transparency global challenge for public finances

WELLINGTON, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- Public financial management and a dearth of qualified accountants are posing challenges to developed and developing nations as they emerge from the Global Financial Crisis, the new head of the global accountants body warned Wednesday.

Many countries were looking at possible future financial calamities or obstacles to growth because they lacked accountants to properly assess their assets and liabilities, said Warren Allen, who took up a two-year post as president of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) last month.

IFAC, which represents 2.5 million professionally qualified accountants globally, mainly coordinates standards for auditing, accounting education and public sector accounting with 173 member bodies in 129 countries.

Allen told Xinhua that training accountants would be an urgent requirement during his tenure.

China alone needed another 300,000 qualified accountants in coming years and Indonesia had fewer than 50,000 accountants, with an average age over 50 and both countries were developing fast, he said.

"IFAC has a very close relationship with the Chinese Institute of Certified Public Accountants, which is a very active organization. We give them support on the international front; we give them international standards to teach their students," Allen said in a phone interview.

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