Meeting on the Task Force on Harmonization of Public Sector Accounting

Second Meeting
Wednesday, September 22–Friday, September 24, 2004
International Monetary Fund
Washington, DC
Room 2-530, Main building of IMF

The international Task Force on Harmonization of Public Sector Accounting (TFHPSA) works at enhancing the harmonization between statistical guidelines and accounting standards, and at updating statistical guidelines for the public sector. The TFHPSA was created in 2003 and is the first formal initiative at the international level that attempts to harmonize statistical guidelines and accounting. It is also recognized as the forum to provide guidance in the area of public sector statistics for the forthcoming update of the System of National Accounts 1993 (1993 SNA).

The Task Force, which is chaired by the IMF, operates on the basis of two working groups (WGs), with WGI that focuses on harmonization of statistical and accounting standards and is chaired by the International Federation of Accountants-Public Sector Committee (IFAC-PSC); and WGII that focuses on inputs to the update of the 1993 SNA and is chaired by the OECD, that also acts as secretariat. The task force membership includes national statisticians and public sector accountants, and international agencies (European Central Bank, Eurostat, International Monetary Fund, IFAC-PSC, OECD, World Bank).

The September 22–24, 2004 meeting of the Task Force is being sponsored by the Statistics Department of the IMF. It is the second meeting of the Task Force, following that held in February 2004 at the OECD in Paris. The intent of the meeting is first to take stock of the progress that has been made with the work program since the last meeting. To this end, it will review the work done by WGI and by the five teams of WGII. The meeting will then review the work that would need to be done in preparation for the update of the 1993 SNA. Finally, it will begin the work leading to an Appendix that would be included in the updated version of the 1993 SNA. The agenda of the meeting is available below.

The discussions and decisions reached during the meeting will be communicated to the Advisory Expert Group in charge of the update of the 1993 SNA, as well as the IFAC-PSC.

If you wish to become member of the TFHPSA and to have access to all the documentation, please contact Jean-Pierre.Dupuis@oecd.org. If you wish to participate in the September 2004 meetings, please submit your request to Mr. Keith Dublin, Chief of the Government Finance Division, Statistics Department, IMF at kdublin@imf.org. The subsequent meeting of the TFHPSA will be held in Paris in February 2005 to coincide with the meeting of the Senior Budget Officers.

Working Group II (WG II) September 22 and 23, 2004

Date and time Topic Documents Discussion Leader

Wednesday, September 22

9:15 a.m. Coffee
9:30 a.m. Opening remarks
The Challenge

Opening Remarks: Welcome
Carol S. Carson


Robert W. Edwards
9:50 a.m. Update since the February 2004 TFHPSA meeting Strengthening the Links Between Macroeconomic Statistical Guidelines and Accounting Standards (amended version) Lucie Laliberté
10:15 a.m. Coffee Break
10:45 a.m. *Government/Public Sector/Private Sector — Delineation Issues Graham Jenkinson
12:45 p.m. Lunch
2:00 p.m. *Accrual of earnings on equity in the SNA: Capital Injections, Superdividends and Reinvested Earnings Keith Dublin
Philippe de Rougemont
3:30 p.m. Coffee break
4:00 p.m. *Accrual of earnings on equity in the SNA: Capital Injections, Superdividends and Reinvested Earnings (continued) Keith Dublin
Philippe de Rougemont
5:00 p.m. Summary of discussions Jean-Pierre Dupuis
Thursday, September 23

9:00 a.m. Coffee
9:15 a.m. *Tax revenue, uncollectible taxes, and tax credits Jean-Pierre Dupuis and
Johann Bjorgvinsson
10:45 a.m. Coffee break
11:00 a.m. Government Guarantees of Borrowing Jeff Golland
12:30 p.m. Lunch
1:30 p.m. Privatizations and restructuring agencies, including securitization Raimund Mink
3:30 p.m. Coffee break
4:00 p.m. Other issues Canberra, IMF, OECD
4:45 p.m. Summary of discussions Jean-Pierre Dupuis
5:30 p.m. Update of Strategy Paper Strategy Paper Lucie Laliberté

*The three asterisked papers will the ones presented to the Advisory Expert Group for the SNA review in November 2004.

Working Group I (WG I) September 24, 2004

Note: Due to time constraints for WG II on the previous days, it might be necessary to start the WGI meeting at 11:00 on Friday.

Note: As part of this meeting we will discuss the ongoing role of WG1, arrangements for its leadership and relationship with other groups, including the IASB and PSC.

Date and time Topic Documents Discussion Leader

Friday, September 24

9:15 a.m. Coffee
9:30 a.m. Opening remarks Lucie Laliberté
9:45 a.m. PSC Update and GGS Project Brief Paul Sutcliffe
10:45 a.m. Coffee Break
11:00 a.m. PSC Update and GGS Project Brief (continued) Paul Sutcliffe
11:30 a.m. WG I WG I Report 1 and Matrix I Paul Sutcliffe
1:00 p.m. Lunch
2:30 p.m. WG I (continued)
4:00 p.m. Coffee break
4:30 p.m. Work Program for 2004 and 2005 Lucie Laliberté
5:00 p.m. Closing Lucie Laliberté

1Item 13. "GFS, ESA 95, IPSAS Harmonization" (extract of minutes on the March 2004 PSC meeting) see http://www.ifac.org/PublicSector/Meeting-BGPapers.php?MID=0028&ViewCat=0097.