Archive
International News Services archives articles supplied to clients one year or more after initial publication. These articles are protected by a password and not made available to readers without permission from clients. They are used as a background resource by agency journalists. Upon client requests, International News Services will remove such articles from the archive or not upload them in the first place. They are included to demonstrate the breadth of topics undertaken by the agency and also to help promote clients’ coverage.
BUDGETARY AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Parliament’s budgetary control committee has called on relevant European Union (EU) institutions to toughen their efforts to fight EU fraud, concluding there was “a long way to go” to tackle the problem. Approving a report from Austrian socialist MEP Herbert Bösch, the committee said the European Commission should review its policy of decentralising responsibility for financial management.…
TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITAIN has been given a relatively clean bill of health in the latest Transparency International corruption rankings, being viewed as joint-11th least-corrupt country in the world, sharing its billing with Canada and Luxembourg. Finland was the most honest place in which to do business said the pressure group’s survey, followed by Iceland and the Denmark plus New Zealand at joint third.…
EU AUDIT DIRECTIVE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has avoided an outright ban on statutory auditors carrying out additional work for client companies, although proposals issued on Tuesday (16-3) insist on avoiding conflicts of interest. The tabled directive insists auditors or audit firms are “independent from the audited entity and not in any way involved in management decisions.”…
OVERSIGHT AGREEMENT
Keith Nuthall
EUROPEAN Union (EU) internal market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein has admitted that the proposed directive on reforming Europe’s audit oversight rules were tailored to dovetail with American regulations, as amended by the sometimes controversial Sarbanes Oxley Act.
Speaking at a Brussels power breakfast with the US Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) chairman Bill McDonough, the Dutch commissioner said in framing the EU reforms, his officials had reacted to Sarbanes Oxley, in a “constructive, cooperative way forward, jointly, respecting to the maximum degree possible our different legal traditions and cultures”.…
OECD TAX REPORT
Keith Nuthall
THE ORGANISATION for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has claimed it is making headway in chasing so-called “harmful” tax regimes from the world’s statute books, claiming 18 have been scrapped since the year 2000 and another 14 have been reformed.…
MONEY LAUNDERING IMF/EU
Keith Nuthall
INTERNATIONAL Monetary Fund (IMF) policies towards borrower countries will henceforth be influenced by their capacity to implement Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations on fighting money laundering. IMF directors have agreed these assessments “do not contravene the prohibition of the Fund to exercise law enforcement powers”.…
ISO INTERNET
Keith Nuthall
THE INTERNATIONAL Office for Standardisation (ISO) is promoting free and downloadable guidance kits for auditors checking whether their clients are complying with ISO’s quality management standard ISO 9001:2000. However, said ISO, they would also be useful to guide in-house audits of quality systems, “as well as to consultants, trainers and anyone with an interest in quality”.…
EP FRAUD MOTION
Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Parliament’s budgetary control committee has called on relevant European Union (EU) institutions to toughen and improve their efforts to fight EU fraud, concluding that there was “a long way to go” to successfully tackle the problem. Approving a report from Austrian socialist MEP Herbert Bösch, the committee said the European Commission should review its policy of decentralising responsibility for financial management, whilst separating competences for the budget, accounts, financial control and combating fraud, now all under one Commissioner.…
FRAUD UNIT
Keith Nuthall
THE INTERNATIONAL Chamber of Commerce (ICC) is assembling a crack anti-fraud team from amongst specialist legal practices worldwide, tasked with offering advice to victims of commercial deception, money laundering and cybercrime. The chamber’s commercial crime department said it was now identifying and inviting suitable law firms to participate.…
BUITENAN SLATE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
CELEBRATED European Commission whistleblower Paul Van Buitenen has launched his own slate of candidates for the June 10 European Parliament elections. Called Europa Transparant, and standing in his native Netherlands, the party had hoped to be boast the candidature of former Commission chief accountant Marta Andreason, although she has now pulled out citing family reasons.…