The 96th AFA Council Meeting, 16-17 January 2009, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

The 99th AFA Council Meeting was held back to back with the 16th AFA Conference on the 7th December 2009 attended by all AFA Primary members and associate members ACCA,ICA Australia and CPA Australia.

The delegates for the 96th ASEAN Federation of Accountants (AFA) Council Meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

The ASEAN Federation of Accountants held its 96th AFA Council Meeting from 16 to 17 January 2009 at InterContinental Hotel in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The meeting of was hosted by the Kampuchea Institute of Certified Accountants and Auditors (KICPAA) and attended by AFA primary members and its associate members.

AFA 2009 Operational Plan

In his welcoming address to the meeting, the AFA President, Pengiran Haji Moksin thanked all the AFA member bodies for the cooperation and roles they played in ensuring the AFA initiatives and projects in 2008 was successfully implemented and hope for continued cooperation in 2009.

At the meeting the AFA Council agreed in principle to the AFA Operational Plan for 2009 which outlines the linkages between AFA activities in 2009 with AFA’s mission and vision and AFA’s three Strategic Objectives:

1. Strengthening AFA institutional capabilities, through project coordination and monitoring and enhancing AFA internal and external communication channel,

2. Supporting the capacity building of member institutions by being the platform for cooperation among member institutions in sharing best practices and resources, and

3. Championing specific issues which would promote the standing of the accountancy profession within the ASEAN region

Projects for 2009

The AFA Operational Plan for 2009 details the activities and programme planned during 2009 and the estimated costs for delivery of the programmes and the budget for 2009 to support the operations. At the meeting, the AFA Council approved the following projects to be undertaken by AFA in 2009:

• setting up of an AFA Task Force to be led by the Federation of Accounting Profession of Thailand; to formulate a set of Standards for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) which can be voluntarily applied by ASEAN countries,

• efforts to enhance awareness and application of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) in the ASEAN region to be spearheaded by the Indonesian Intitute of Accountants and CPA Australia.

• the setting up a Regional Task Force on Accounting Standards to study and give comments to International Accounting Standards Board (IASB)'s exposure drafts, standards and interpretation,

• developing research criteria for AFA sponsorship consideration, and

• compilation of Mutual Recognition Arrangements concluded in the ASEAN region

During the meeting, the AFA Council also held a discussion with IFACs Compliance Advisory Panel supporting staff where there was an exchange of ideas on how AFA and IFAC could continue to work closely on this.