Businesses and Accounting and Auditing Professionals discuss the Law on Financial Reporting

2020-01-21 - 05:05

Prishtina, January 21, 2020 – The Society of Certified Accountants and Auditors of Kosovo, the American Chamber of Commerce and the Kosovo Chamber of Commerce organized a roundtable on the new requirements arising from the Law on Accounting, Financial Reporting and Auditing and the implications that this law creates for the private sector. The purpose of this roundtable was to discuss with business representatives and accounting and auditing professionals the requirements that businesses must meet regarding their financial reporting for fiscal year 2019.

The event was opened Mrs. Ardiana Bunjaku – Executive Director at SCAAK, Mr. Arian Zeka – Executive Director at the American Chamber of Commerce in Kosovo and Mr. Berat Rukiqi – President at the Kosovo Chamber of Commerce, who welcomed the guests, and continued with discussions by panelists Afrim Maloku, Arber Hoti and Arta Limani.

Afrim Maloku, Chairman of the Kosovo Council for Financial Reporting (KCFR) during this meeting stated that the purpose of the Law on Financial Reporting is to increase the inclusion of transparency and reliability of financial statements and audit reports. As innovations coming from this law, Maloku also mentioned public oversight as a new function of KCFR, which includes overseeing the continuing education of certified auditors and accountants, quality control, investigations and discipline. He stated that these are the three main functions of the board of directors that will at all times inspect the work of auditors, audit firms and professional organizations.

Arber Hoti, member of KCFR and financial reporting expert, discussed among other things the change in the categorization of enterprises as well as the additional reporting requirements of large enterprises as entities with public interest. Among these requests, Hoti cited the compliance and corporate governance statement, as well as the management report. Moreover, he spoke about the implementation of standards for the preparation of financial reports, as well as the annual transparency report.

Arta Limani, Director of Audit at Deloitte, mainly spoke about the review process, specifying the difference between audit and review. In her capacity as an expert on the requirements of the standard for review engagements, Limani said that the purpose and scope of this standard addresses the responsibility of reviewers, the form of the review report, and the procedures that reviewers must perform. According to her, the main difference between the two commitments is that the assurance provided by the revision of the financial statements is a more limited assurance, while that provided by the auditor is considered to be of higher assurance.