REMARKABLE EVENTS AT opposite sides of the Pacific are set to dominate the 16th World Congress of Accountants, held this week in Hong Kong.
Recent scandals in the United States will shadow and shape scheduled talks on corporate governance and ethical issues. At the same time, China's recent accession to the World Trade Organisation and the burgeoning mainland economy will have an impact on accounting and on the world at large. The presence at the congress of Premier Zhu Rongji and 2,000 delegates from the mainland is an early indication of this.
The congress, which will run until November 21, is organised by the Hong Kong Society of Accountants under the auspices of the International Federation of Accountants. More than 5,000 delegates from nearly every country will attend, including the record number from the mainland.
Held every five years, the congress is considered the Olympics of the accounting profession. This is the first time the event has been held on Chinese territory, and Mr Zhu will officiate at the opening and deliver a keynote address. It is the first time a national leader has visited Hong Kong on non-government related business.
Several speakers will touch on the recent WorldCom scandal and the earlier one involving Enron and accounting giant Andersen. These have severely damaged public confidence in corporate reporting, an area vital to the world's economies. But a knee-jerk reaction could hamper wealth creation, warns a speaker at this week's congress.
Peter Wyman, president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, and a PricewaterhouseCoopers partner, says the public's trust was shaken 'by the actions of a relatively small number of people involved in a relatively small number of high-profile corporate scandals'.
