Kingdom of Cambodia

Nation Religion King

Remarks by

Sr. Minister KEAT CHHON,
Minister of Economy and Finance

At

MOC Signing Ceremony Between NAC/KICPAA & CPA Australia
 

MEF, 19 May 2006

Mr. Paul Meiklejohn, President of CPA Australia
Mr. Guy Rodriguez, Chargé d’affaires of the Embassy of Australia to Cambodia
Excellencies,
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen

It is my great pleasure and honor to be here today to bear witness of the signing of MOC between NAC/KICPAA and CPA Australia. This milestone event clearly manifests a new achievement of our colleagues and the Ministry of Economy and Finance as a whole after many years of our government investment and endeavors to develop a modern Cambodian accounting system comparable to International Accounting Standards.

The Road Map 2001-2010 for the development of financial sector, it calls for the establishment and revision of Cambodian accounting system and legislation based on International Accounting Standards. As a result, the law on Corporate Accounts, their Audit and Accounting Profession was passed in July 2002 and has been effective since January 1st, 2005. Fifteen Cambodian Accounting Standards based on IAS and 10 Cambodian Standards on Audit based on IFAC were also established and issued for use since October 2003. The accounting law requires all enterprises operating in Cambodia to prepare the financial statement in accordance with conceptual framework and Cambodian Accounting Standards, and to keep books and accounts and have them audited.

The Royal Government truly believes that the accounting reform process is of paramount importance for both the public and private sectors to effectively function and promote the economic growth and thus the development for Cambodia. Furthermore, our public finance will greatly benefit from this reform because a more efficient accounting system will promote better transparency and effectiveness for our tax administration and tax collection. Indeed, we must quickly improve our revenue collection in the medium term while our customs and other import taxes are gradually declined as a result of our integration into ASEAN and the WTO.

By the same token, the commercial banking and micro finance institutions will find it easier to lend to the business if better financial reporting information can be provided. This would facilitate a better access to bank credit and other financial instruments from the financial market. The imminent introduction of a capital market in Cambodia in the upcoming years would also call for better financial reporting mechanism in order to earn confidence and trust of our domestic and global investors.

As such, the accounting reform is one of the critical components of the blueprint of our financial sector reform strategy that the Royal Government has been implemented for the period 2001-2010.

In this regard, this cooperative agreement opens a new chapter and paves the way for NAC and KICPAA the opportunity to work closely with CPA Australia to further develop Cambodian professional accountants and hence to strengthen accountancy profession in Cambodia.

On behalf of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, I would like to congratulate my colleague Ngy Tayi, undersecretary of state of MEF and President of NAC, Miss Rany Chung, Vice President of KICPAA, and CPA Australia in particular Mr. Paul Miklejohn, the President, and Ms. Lucia Real-Martin, International Relations Director, for the collective efforts to make this event realizable.

Also, I would like to thank all of you from both public and private sector for being here today to share with us this important event.
 

Thank you !