IFAC chief calls on government

A failure to manage public sector finances
could have further dire consequences for governments worldwide,
International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) chief executive, Ian
Ball has warned.

Speaking at a Chartered Institute of Public
Finance and Accountancy’s (CIPFA) conference, Ball said governments
need to take financial management more seriously or face situations
like the bailouts witnessed in Greece and Ireland.

“I have come to the view that internationally
there is a systematic, pervasive, though possibly not deliberate,
ignorance of the critical value of good accounting to governments,”
Ball says.

Ball recently received the Chartered Institute
of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) President’s Medal for his
global contribution to the public sector finance profession.