President Lee Teng-hui today pointed out that the coordination of international accounting standards could reduce the variations in the financial statements among enterprises from different countries, while at the same time, improve the dissemination of financial news about multinational corporations.
President Lee made the remarks while meeting with the participants of the First AAA/TAA Globalization Conference.
The full text of President Lee's speech is as follows:
Senior Advisor Ding; Deputy Secretary General Lin; Dr. Diamond; Dr. Cheng; Ladies and Gentlemen:
I am very pleased to have this opportunity to meet with the participants of the First Globalization Conference, jointly sponsored by National Chengchi University, Taiwan Accounting Association, and American Accounting Association. On behalf of the government and people of the Republic of China, I would first like to welcome all of you who have traveled far to come to Taiwan.
The major purposes of this conference is to strengthen academic exchanges between the accounting communities in our two countries, as well as to advance the internationalization of accounting research and education in Taiwan. It is truly significant that your conference is being held at the threshold of the globalization and information age.
Accounting is a major bedrock for business, as well as a crucial pillar of support for the sound development of national financial systems. Business managers run their operations based on accounting information. Investors and creditors also rely on financial reports to understand the performance of enterprises. Moreover, in any country, the preparation of government budget and the evaluation of policy effects use accounting reports as parameters. For these reasons, accounting plays a very important role in social, economic, and even national development.
In the last decade, with the quickening steps of globalization and the rapid growth of multinational corporations, the importance of developments in international accounting increases with each passing day. Because countries differ in their political, legal, social and economic environments, the accounting standards that they adopt vary to a certain extent, thereby affecting the comparability of the financial reports of corporations across countries. Hence, I believe that the coordination of international accounting standards could reduce the variations in the financial statements among enterprises from different countries, while at the same time, improve the dissemination of financial news about multinational corporations. This will have a profound influence on the optimum allocation of resources and capital in the global economy.
The major topics of discussion at this conference covers a broad spectrum, including land tax, auditing, international accounting, financial accounting, managerial accounting, accounting education, corporate governance, environmental information disclosure, and the impact of the Asian Financial Crisis on accounting and auditing. I am confident that the valuable consensus reached after rigorous discussion will greatly benefit international accounting exchange and cooperation, and will also exert positive influence on the development of accounting education in this country.
We also hope that each of you will take this opportunity of the conference to learn more about the real developments in this country, and to offer your valuable recommendations for our reference.
Lastly, I wish everyone good health and happiness. Thank you.