Organized by the UN and ASCA: A Workshop in Bahrain on Environmental Accounting
01 Jun 1999Al-Manama- exclusive
Under the auspices of Sheikh Khalid bin Abdullah bin Khalifa, Minister of Housing, Municipalities and Environment, more than 100 representatives from the GCC states and other Arab countries met in Bahrain to participate in a workshop which will continue for two days. The workshop deals with accounting and financial and environmental reporting of facilities, and is organized jointly between the Arab Society for Certified Accountants (ASCA) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and in collaboration with the Ministry of Housing, Municipalities and Environment in Bahrain and with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).
The workshop aims to provide guidance for enterprises, regulators and standard-setting bodies on what it is believed to be the best practice in the accounting of environmental costs and liabilities. The participants in the workshop represent financial institutions, share markets, facilities, environment and trade ministries, universities and professional associations.
The Secretary-General of the (UNCTAD), Mr. Rubens Ricupero, confirmed in his speech that the modern financial systems clearly demonstrated the importance of financial disclosure in a timely manner to ensure the investor’ confidence. In this regard it is important that investors know the full extent of the environmental costs and liabilities.
He also said that the lack of transparency was not the cause of the Asian Crisis, but that certainly contributed to its deepening, the Secretary-General has cited what Mr. Arthur Levitt Chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission said.
The importance of reliable and transparent financial statements issued in a timely manner and their importance for the investor protection, are issues that never been clearer than now. The current financial situations of Asia and Russia are strong examples of this new reality. These markets learn a hard lesson that has been repeated several times previously, and investors feel stressed as a result of unexpected bad news, which can be limitless).
For his part, Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, Chairman of the Arab Society for Certified Accountants (ASCA) This is the reason why ASCA entered the subject of accounting and environmental reporting within its curriculum., affirmed the importance of the accounting profession in the Arab world, and the vital and leading role ASCA plays in the introduction of the best practices for reporting on environmental costs and liabilities within financial statements.
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