Publication: Pakistan : Accounting and Auditing
Loading...
Published
2005-03
ISSN
Date
2012-06-19
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
This report is based on an assessment of accounting and auditing practices in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. It forms part of a joint initiative between the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund on Reports on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC). The assessment focuses on the strengths and weaknesses of corporate accounting and auditing practices in Pakistan and involves a review of both mandatory requirements and actual practice. The report consists of policy recommendations to be used as inputs in developing a Country Action Plan. The objectives of these recommendations are to consolidate the prior achievements, improve knowledge base among auditors and the preparers of financial statements, and strengthen the monitoring and enforcement mechanisms for ensuring compliance with applicable standards and codes. The recommendations include improving the capacity of regulators and professional bodies, upgrading accountancy education and training with focus on practical application of International Financial Reporting Standards and International Standards of Auditing, issuing and disseminating implementation guidance on applicable standards, instituting a system for independent oversight of auditing profession, developing simplified reporting requirements for small- and medium-sized enterprises, upgrading the licensing procedure of professional accountants and auditors, and enhancing the delivery of continuing professional education.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2005. Pakistan : Accounting and Auditing. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/8433 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Cambodia : Accounting and Auditing(Washington, DC, 2007-05)This report provides an assessment of accounting and auditing practices within the corporate sector in Cambodia with reference to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), and the International Standards on Auditing (ISA) issued by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). This assessment is positioned within the broader context of the Cambodia's institutional framework and capacity needed to ensure the quality of corporate financial reporting Cambodia is putting in place an institutional framework with regard to accounting, auditing, and financial reporting practices. However, institutional weaknesses in regulation, compliance, and enforcement of standards and rules still exist. The accounting and auditing statutory framework suffers from inconsistencies among different laws. Although the national accounting standards and auditing standards are based on IFRS, and ISA, respectively, they appear outmoded and have gaps in comparison with the international equivalents. There are varying compliance gaps in both accounting and auditing practices. These gaps could primarily stem from lack of clearer understanding by professional accountants, inadequate technical capacities of the regulators, absence of implementation guidance, lack of independent oversight of the auditing profession, and shortcomings in professional education and training. There is little awareness of the importance of quality financial information in Cambodia. Financial reporting is driven primarily by complying with requirements of shareholders, obtaining bank loans, and satisfying the taxation regime. Auditing in Cambodia is perceived as an exercise of little value. The law does not outline which standards should be followed in conducting audits. Cambodia's accounting profession is largely dominated by the members of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants of the United Kingdom. The Kampuchea Institute of Certified Public Accountants and Auditors is in its early stage of development and should be geared to contribute in creating an enabling environment for high-quality corporate financial reporting and auditing practices in the country.Publication Pakistan : Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC) : Corporate Governance Country Assessment(Washington, DC, 2005-06)This report provides an assessment of Pakistan's corporate governance policy framework. In Pakistan, awareness of the importance of good corporate governance is high among policymakers and standard setters. It highlights recent improvements in corporate governance regulation, makes policy recommendations, and provides investors with a benchmark against which to measure corporate governance in Pakistan. The focus of the assessment is on listed companies, although reference is also made to banks and other financial institutions. Reform to improve corporate governance has been significant, including the introduction of a code of corporate governance and increased vigilance by regulators. Highly concentrated control by significant shareholders has limited the objectivity of boards and reduced the impact of some of the recent reforms. More generally, many smaller and family-owned companies have a limited awareness of the potential benefits of improved corporate governance. Corporate governance reform needs to percolate throughout the corporate sector, including family-owned businesses. The report concludes that further steps need to be taken to protect shareholder rights, including disclosure of beneficial ownership, and that boards must become more effective, with stronger fiduciary duties, and more capable independent directors.Publication Transparency of State Owned Enterprises in Vietnam : Current Status and Ideas for Reform(Washington, DC, 2014)Information disclosure by State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) is part of a broader agenda to promote greater public sector transparency in Vietnam. Recent studies by the World Bank and others have shown that despite progress, compliance with legal requirements for transparency remains a challenge across a wide range of public sector governance areas in Vietnam. However, the marginal benefit to increased transparency is very significant. Timely availability of credible economic data, and better communication of policy changes, can help reduce market uncertainty and perceptions of risk. Transparency of SOEs is particularly important given their large presence in Vietnam s economy. In a survey conducted in 2011 for the Vietnam Development Report (2012) entitled Market Economy for a Middle Income Vietnam , improving transparency was cited by respondents as the top reform solution for SOEs in Vietnam together with accelerating equalization. Prime Minister s Decision 929 (2012), which sets out an overall plan to restructure General Corporations and State Economic Groups, sets out several commitments to help improve the transparency of SOEs. The SOE transparency agenda is an important part of the program supported under the Economic Management and Competitiveness Credit (EMCC) budget support operation. It is with this background that this Policy Note was prepared to help promote a dialogue between the Government of Vietnam and Development Partners on ways to enhance disclosure of information by SOEs.Publication Republic of Botswana : Accounting and Auditing(Washington, DC, 2006-05)This accounting and auditing report, part of the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC) for the Republic of Botswana, provides an assessment of accounting and auditing practices within the corporate sector in Botswana with reference to the International Financial Reporting Standards issued by the International Accounting Standards Board, and International Standards on Auditing issued by the International Federation of Accountants. Botswana has made considerable efforts in aligning its accounting and auditing practices with internationally accepted standards and codes. Corporate accounting and disclosure practices have considerably improved over the last 5 years. Monitoring and enforcement of financial reporting requirements in the banking sector have contributed to improved transparency of the financial sector. Even with progress, there is room for further improvements. The report highlights areas that need attention for strengthening the infrastructure of accounting and auditing practices in Botswana. The report concludes with recommendations to integrate with regional and sub-regional initiatives, wherever applicable, to share resources in order to strengthen accounting and auditing practices in Botswana.Publication Bulgaria : Accounting and Auditing(Washington, DC, 2008-12)This report provides an assessment of accounting, financial reporting, and auditing requirements and practices within the enterprise and financial sectors in Bulgaria. The accounting profession is fragmented. There are four different professional associations in the country with the result being low institutional capacity. Furthermore, there is no quality assurance, investigation and discipline process on the work of accountants and financial statement preparers. The auditing profession is better organized with one association mandated by law to manage access to the profession, training, the code of ethics and quality control. Professional education and training on international standards of accounting and auditing requires much improvement for students, accountants, auditors and tax inspectors. This improvement is needed at each of the universities, the professional bodies and the government.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.Publication Morocco Economic Update, Winter 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-04-03)Despite the drought causing a modest deceleration of overall GDP growth to 3.2 percent, the Moroccan economy has exhibited some encouraging trends in 2024. Non-agricultural growth has accelerated to an estimated 3.8 percent, driven by a revitalized industrial sector and a rebound in gross capital formation. Inflation has dropped below 1 percent, allowing Bank al-Maghrib to begin easing its monetary policy. While rural labor markets remain depressed, the economy has added close to 162,000 jobs in urban areas. Morocco’s external position remains strong overall, with a moderate current account deficit largely financed by growing foreign direct investment inflows, underpinned by solid investor confidence indicators. Despite significant spending pressures, the debt-to-GDP ratio is slowly declining.Publication World Development Report 2006(Washington, DC, 2005)This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.Publication Argentina Country Climate and Development Report(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11)The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.