To this end, she expressed optimism that the IFIAR Inspection Workshop 2023 scheduled to be held in Bali on March 7-9, 2023, would bolster awareness of the importance of improving the quality of supervision in the audit industry.
"Improving the quality of supervision is not only important in the field of policy formulation but also important in the field of inspection and law enforcement," Sri Mulyani, who participated virtually in the 2023 IFIAR Inspection Workshop, said as quoted from an official statement received in Jakarta, Tuesday.
IFIAR is an international organization that includes regulators in the field of auditing from various countries to protect the interests of the public and investors by increasing audit supervision globally. In this case, Indonesia is represented by the Financial Professional Development Center (PPPK) of the Secretariat General of the Ministry of Finance.
As an annual activity, the IFIAR Inspection Workshop aims to facilitate participants to share practical experiences regarding audit guidance and supervision between IFIAR member countries. Indonesia, through the Ministry of Finance, will share regulatory and supervisory practices of public accountants with other regulators, who are members of IFIAR and vice versa.
Through various working groups and a series of IFIAR activities, the Minister of Finance is optimistic that member countries would hold intensive discussions with one another to discuss current issues related to audit supervision. A quality audit is an effort to increase public trust and transparency in financial reports that can then be used to make economic decisions.
Transparency of financial reports is one of the elements in supporting the resilience of the financial sector in maintaining economic stability. In Indonesia, the Ministry of Finance established PPPK as a supervisory body to ensure the reliability of audited financial reports.
However, she said, cooperation and collaboration from various parties are deemed necessary to promote the importance of transparency, accountability, and ethical behavior in the financial sector to protect the interests of investors and maintain economic sustainability.
In addition, to emphasize the importance of the role of public accountants as an integral part of the financial industry sector to maintain credibility and sustainability, this year, the government has enacted the Financial Sector Development and Strengthening Act (P2SK).
Through the P2SK Law, the Ministry of Finance, along with Bank Indonesia (BI) and the Financial Services Authority (OJK), will strengthen the regulatory function, especially from the audit and guarantee industry, Sri Mulyani said, adding that this step is important in maintaining the stability and integrity of the financial sector in Indonesia.
Moreover, the issue of climate change is also one of the challenges for which the auditor is expected to participate in to address it by not only setting global climate-related disclosure standards but also increasing the responsibility for sustainable disclosure of information by companies and helping investors avoid fraudulent disclosure through the application of the principles of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG).
As discussed at the 2023 IFIAR Inspection Workshop on ESG, the transparent disclosure of ESG information can help users consider whether the information is comparable to other companies and is consistent with information earlier disclosed by companies.
Thus, this information can also encourage investors to assess the social environment impact of their investments so as to facilitate corporate incentive schemes.
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Translator: Agatha Olivia, Cindy Frishanti Octavia
Editor: Sri Haryati
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