Новости

European type “stress-testing”

Following the US experience, the European Union plans to carry out stress-testing of its own banking system to see whether it will be able to recover after the crisis is over or not and to check whether additional capital inflow is needed. The EU plans to finish preparations for the “experiment” by September.

Moody’s also lowered Ukrainian sovereign rating

Today the international rating agency “Moody’s Investors Service” lowered ratings of the Ukrainian government’s obligations in national and foreign currency from B1 to B2. The forecast is “negative”.

Prison sentence for market manipulation

The State Duma of the Russian Federation approved amendments to the law which provides criminal liability for manipulation of market prices. After those amendments come into force, manipulators will be punished by 2 to 7 years of imprisonment and additional fines to be paid. Those measures spread on large violations which caused massive (1 million rubles or above) or extreme (2.5 million rubles or above) financial damages.

CAQ’s new “Guide to public company auditions”

The Center for Audit Quality (CAQ) today released a new resource that illustrates for capital market stakeholders the vital role public company auditors play in providing transparency in the markets.

IFAC’s International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board Proposes New Guidance to Strengthen Financial Reporting by Governments

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) is expanding its guidance in two significant areas: accounting for intangible assets and entity combinations. It has published two new exposure drafts (EDS)-ED 40 “Intangible Assets” and ED 41 “Entity Combinations from Exchange Transactions” which propose important new guidance for professional accountants working in government and other public sector entities.

ECB cuts the key interest rate by quarter

The European Central Bank cut its key interest rate to 1% from the initial 1.25%. The ECB’s decision is fully consistent with expectations of most financial analysts.

US banks will return money to the government

American banks will have to give back more than 25 billion dollars acquires as the government’s anti-crisis support to the financial sector (aka “TARP”). This was announced today by the Finance Minister Timothy Geitner.

IFAC President Robert Bunting Says Government Bailouts Bring International Public Sector Accounting Standards to the Forefront

Speaking at the Higher Education Forum of the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) in Miami, FL, on April 26, 2009, Robert L. Bunting, President of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), described the enormous changes happening as a result of the global financial crisis and explained why convergence and implementation of international standards is needed to rebuild and sustain the global financial system.

IFRSs in your Pocket 2009

“Deloitte” has published the eighth edition of our popular guide to IFRSs – “IFRSs In Your Pocket 2009”.

Russian CRAs disagree with their foreign “colleagues” on Russian banks’ ratings

Despite obvious decrease of key indicators of the banking system in Russia, Russian credit rating agencies do not plan to lower their ratings – accounting records of rating agencies demostrate that clearly. This may be important because, starting from December 2008, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation takes rating of Russian agencies into account – together with foreign ratings produced by S&P, Moody’s and Fitch – and it appears that “home-produced” rating are a bit different.