The Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting (ISAR) is hosted by the

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is an intergovernmental organization within the United Nations Secretariat that promotes the interests of developing countries in world trade. It was established in 1964 by the ...

(UNCTAD). Created in 1982 by the

United Nations Economic and Social Council The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC; french: links=no, Conseil économique et social des Nations unies, ) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, responsible for coordinating the economic and social fields ...

(ECOSOC), its mission is to facilitate investment, development and economic stability by promoting good practices in corporate transparency and

accounting Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the measurement, processing, and communication of financial and non financial information about economic entities such as businesses and corporations. Accounting, which has been called the "languag ...

Annual sessions and workshops

The Working Group holds its annual sessions and workshops at the

United Nations Office at Geneva The United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG, french: Office des Nations Unies à Genève) in Geneva, Switzerland, is one of the four major offices of the United Nations where numerous different UN agencies have a joint presence. The main UNOG ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, with several hundred delegates attending from more than half of the UN member states. Participants include policymakers, regulators, and representatives from academia, civil society, private industry and various national, regional and international accountancy organizations.

Areas of work

ISAR is focused on a number of areas of financial and non-financial corporate reporting, including: *

Sustainability accounting Sustainability accounting (also known as social accounting, social and environmental accounting, corporate social reporting, corporate social responsibility reporting, or non-financial reporting) was originated about 20 years ago and is considered ...

and reporting *Implementation of

International Financial Reporting Standards International Financial Reporting Standards, commonly called IFRS, are accounting standards issued by the IFRS Foundation and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). They constitute a standardised way of describing the company's f ...

(IFRS) * Accounting by

Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by international organizations such as the World Bank ...

(SMEs) *

Corporate governance Corporate governance is defined, described or delineated in diverse ways, depending on the writer's purpose. Writers focused on a disciplinary interest or context (such as accounting, finance, law, or management) often adopt narrow definitions ...

disclosure *

Corporate responsibility Corporate responsibility is a term which has come to characterize a family of professional disciplines intended to help a corporation stay competitive by maintaining accountability to its four main stakeholder groups: customers, employees, share ...

reporting *

Environmental accounting Environmental accounting is a subset of accounting proper, its target being to incorporate both economic and environmental information. It can be conducted at the corporate level or at the level of a national economy through the System of Integrated ...

and reporting

ISAR Honours

The ISAR Honours initiative recognizes policy, institutional and capacity-building efforts of different stakeholders that encourage and assist enterprises to publish data on their contribution to the implementation of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and facilitate dissemination of good practices in this area.

Reports and publications

The ISAR Group of Experts produces a number of research and voluntary guidance documents. Each year, UNCTAD publishes ISAR's latest research papers in the annual review
International Accounting and Reporting Issues
'. The work of ISAR is freely available for download from th
UNCTAD website
The research and guidance documents are also widely distributed through on-the-ground workshops and training programmes around the world. Voluntary guidance publications include: * (2019) ''Guidance on core indicators for entity reporting on contribution towards implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals

* (2008) ''Guidance on Corporate Responsibility Indicators in Annual Reports

* (2006) ''Guidance on Good Practices in Corporate Governance Disclosure

* (2003) ''Accounting and Financial Reporting Guidelines for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEGA) Level 3 Guidance

References

External links

* https://isar.unctad.org/ {{ECOSOC International trade organizations International accounting organizations