IFAC Establishes International Benchmarks for Professional Accountancy Organisations
The International Federation of Accountants has recently approved seven Statements of Membership Obligations (SMOs) designed to assist their member organisations and potential members in ensuring high quality performance by professional accountants.
The SMOs, released after an extensive comment period, cover a member body's obligations to support the work of IFAC, the work of the International Accounting Standards Board and obligations regarding quality assurance and investigation and discipline.

Russell Guthrie, IFAC Director of Compliance, stated: "The SMOs, to be presented to IFAC's Council for ratification in November, form the basis of the IFAC Member Body Compliance Program. That program is designed to encourage continuous improvement on the part of member organizations in meeting their public interest responsibilities and to contribute to the goal of achieving convergence to international standards."

The specific SMOs, which may be downloaded from the IFAC website at www.ifac.org, cover the following areas: Quality Assurance; International Education Standards for Professional Accountants and Other EDCOM Guidance; IFAC Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants; International Standards Related Practice Statements and Other Papers issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board; International Public Sector Accounting Standards and other PSC Guidance; Investigation and Discipline; and International Financial Reporting Standards.