New IFAC publication highlights the value of professional accountants in business

08 December 2005

CIMA welcomes the publication of a new paper which develops the understanding of the diverse roles, competencies and value of the professional accountant in business. The paper, published by IFAC's Professional Accountants in Business (PAIB) Committee is entitled The Roles and Domain of the Professional Accountant in Business and includes a definition of the professional accountant in business and highlights the many roles that professional accountants in business fulfil.

Clarifying the role of the accountant in business is particularly pertinent to IFAC members, since more than half of the 2.5 million professional accounts whose member bodies belong to IFAC are employed in business.

Commenting on the report, Bill Connell, CIMA Council Member and Chair of PAIB, said:

'As the only international accountancy body with a sole focus on business, CIMA very much welcomes the clarity that this paper brings. While there is certainly high awareness of the work of accountants in practice and audit, there is a less understood, but equally important role that professional accountants in business play in designing and maintaining mechanisms to assure effective, ethical and responsible corporate governance and control in their organisations.'

Charles Tilley, CIMA Chief Executive, continues:

"Professional accountants in business are instrumental in directing, influencing, evaluating and informing a business. We welcome IFAC's recognition of the role they play in meeting the principles of Enterprise Governance by balancing corporate governance and compliance on the one hand and business performance and value creation on the other.'

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For further information, please contact:

Lynda Hardy Maskell
Chief Press Officer, CIMA
+44 (0) 20 8849 2347
lynda.hardymaskell@cimaglobal.com

Notes to editors

1. CIMA (the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) is the only international accountancy body with a sole focus on business. It is a world leading professional institute that offers an internationally recognised qualification in management accountancy, focusing on accounting in business, in both the private and public sectors. It is the fastest growing UK based accountancy body, in terms of members, in both the UK and worldwide and is the voice of over 85,000 students and 65,000 members in 158 countries. CIMA is responsible for the education and training of management accountants who work in industry, commerce and not-for-profit and has more members in the public sector than any other UK based body. CIMA prides itself on the commercial relevance of its syllabus, which is in tune with the activities of high performance organisations, and evolves continually to reflect the latest developments in global business. It is committed to upholding the highest ethical and professional standards of members and students, and to maintaining public confidence in management accountancy. For more information about CIMA, please visit http://www.cimaglobal.com/
2. IFAC (the International Federation of Accountants) is the worldwide organisation for the accountancy profession. IFAC is dedicated to serving the public interest by encouraging high quality performance by world's accountants. Its 163 member bodies are located in 120 countries and represent over 2.5 million accountants employed in public practice, industry and commerce, government, and academia. For further information about IFAC, please visit http://www.ifac.org/
3. A professional accountant in business is defined as someone who meets the standards of a professional. They:

• Have skills, knowledge and expertise tested by examination and continuously developed in a structured and monitored context;
• Are committed to the values of accuracy, honesty, integrity, objectivity, transparency and reliability;
• Are subject to oversight by a body with disciplinary powers;
• Belong to a recognised accountancy body upholding professional standards and approaches the discipline of recording, analysing, measuring, reporting, forecasting and giving advice in support of financial , management and strategic decisions;
• Work in an organisation of any size and ownership structure, or alone, whether or nor operating for profit, other than engaged in audit;
• Are an integral member of, or support to, the management team striving to create and sustain value for stakeholders.