Moscow, International Congress of Accountants and Auditors took place in Izmailovskaya Hotel Complex. The host of the Congress was Eurasian Council of Certified Accountants and Auditors.

The goal of the congress was to consolidate CIS accounting community through enhancing the status of the accounting and audit profession; through promotion of international certification programs for accountants including CIPA; through promotion of  IFRS/IAS and ISA in the countries of CIS; and strengthening the role of professional organizations on the market.

The representatives of  IFAC, UNCTAD,  International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation , members of ECCAA, international organizations and headquarters of professional organizations from CIS countries will take part in the Congress.

All participants of the Congress showed deep interest in CIPA program and appreciated the perspectives of the program in the market.

Moscow, June 8, 2004.  The Russian National Organization on Financial Accounting and Reporting Standards (NOFAR) has held the national congress called "The accounting reform in Russia: ways, problems, goals". 

During the congress, many prominent speakers emphasized the need for Russia to expedite the transition to IFRS - in order to improve the transparency of financial reporting and to raise the investment attractiveness of the country.  Among those strongly promoting the acceptance of IFRS were Tatyana Paramonova, First Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank of Russia, Leonid Shneidman, Director of the State Finance Control, Audit and Accounting Department of the Ministry of Finance; Igor Kozyrev, Chairman of NOFAR.

Strong support for the CIPA program - as a tool to educate and certify the IFRS competency of Russian accountants - was expressed by Kurt Ramin, Commercial Director of the IASCF and by Anatoly Sheremet, Distinguished Professor of the Moscow State University.

Kiev On April 6-8, 2004 a meeting of international accounting education experts took place, at which the distinguished specialists in international financial accounting, audit, finance, and management accounting gathered to discuss the CIPA program's current materials and best ways of their continuous updating and improvement. Among the speakers were Elizabeth Hickey, Director of Education of IASB; Alexander Ruf, President of Russian Collegium of Auditors; Olga Bulatova, Director of Education of Ernst & Young; Olga Solovyova, professor of Moscow State University; Rick Gurley, Office of Economic Growth Director of USAID-Ukraine.

Significant practical contribution and concrete proposals on further improvement of the CIPA program were made by: Tatiana Krylova, Chief of Enterprise Internationalization Section of UNCTAD; Elena Morozova, Head of Education Committee of ECCAA; Anatoly Sheremet, Professor of Moscow State University Vitaly Paliy, Professor, Chairman of Board of SouyzAudit Brian Chiplin, Executive Director of ICAEW

The ECCAA Winter 2004 Conference

Moscow.  On January 29, 2004 the third annual Winter Conference of the Eurasian Council of Certified Accountants and Auditors (ECCAA) took place in Moscow. The delegates discussed ways of promoting the accounting profession in the FSU countries through the implementation of IFRS and the IFRS-based, Russian language accountancy certification program CIPA (Certified International Professional Accountant).
The conference marked an official full-scale country-wide implementation of the CIPA program in Russian Federation. Earlier, the pilot project was successfully implemented, during which approximately 150 accountants were trained in IFRS and took the exams. An official ceremony of the certificate issuance was conducted during the conference.
The CIPA program is based on the IASB and IFAC standards, principles, and guidelines. The goal of the CIPA program is the transparency and reliability of the financial reporting and full integration of the FSU countries into the global market through raising the quality and competency of their professional accountants. This is particularly important in the light of transition of Russian banks and listed companies to IFRS.
The conferences took place at the World Trade Center in Moscow with more than 100 delegates participating (mainly international accounting leaders from the CIS countries, US, UK, and Netherlands). The major international accounting organizations have expressed their support for the CIPA program and delegated their representatives to participate in the conference. Among the speakers were Goeran Tidstroem, member of the IFAC Board; Kurt Ramin, commercial director of IASCF; Lyle Handfield, director of CGA of Canada; Susan Jones, director of AICPA; doctor Adolf Enthoven, director of the US Center for International Accounting Development, and others.

The Joint FCSM-CIPA Conference
Moscow, January 30, 2004

In November 2003, the Federal Commission on Securities Market (FCSM) of Russian Federation and the USAID-funded Project “CIPA Promotion in Russia” have agreed to hold a joint conference dedicated to issues of transition to IFRS and international accounting training and certification in Russia. It was agreed to call and market the event as “IFRS – Integration of Russian Enterprises into the Global Economy”.

The FCSM has appointed its Institute of Securities Market and Management to represent their interests in organizing and conducting the joint conference. The event was also co-sponsored by KPMG-Russia.

The joint FCSM-CIPA conference took place on January 30, 2004 at the World Trade Center in Moscow, Russia. It followed the Third Annual Congress of ECCAA, which had been held in Moscow a day earlier, on January 29, 2004, and marked an official full-scale country-wide implementation of the CIPA program in Russia.

More than two hundred finance directors, chief accountants, and internal auditors representing largest Russian listed companies have attended and actively participated in the conference. The full-day event attracted much professional interest, which was evidenced by lively discussions, concrete questions during the press-conference, and an extensive Q&A session. Leaders of international and Russian accounting profession expressed their views on ways to adopt IFRS in Russia and prepare accountants to this significant change for the profession.

Various aspects of international accounting training and certification were discussed, but all the speakers agreed that the CIPA program is needed for the Russian accounting profession. The following speakers made their presentations:

• Gennady Kolesnikov, FCSM, First Deputy Chairman
• Paul Mulligan, USAID-Russia, Office Director
• Dr. Adolf Enthoven, Center for International Accounting Education Development, Director
• Kurt Ramin, IASCF, Commercial Director
• Janat Berdalina, Qualification Commission for Auditors' Certification of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Chairperson
• Susan Jones of AICPA and Lyle Handfield of CGA, both in charge of International relations at their respective institutions
• Evgeny Enin, Director of the Institute of Securities Market and Management
• Rick Gurley, USAID-Ukraine
• Goeran Tidstroem, IFAC Board Member
• Kirill Altukhov, the KPMG-Russia director
• Oleg Ostrovsky, the Director General of Institute of Professional Accountants of Russia
• Igor Kozyrev, Chairman of the Board of the National Organization of Financial Accounting and Reporting
• Ascold Birin, head of international reporting of leading Russian consulting firm FBK