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יידיש
Experts Call to Develop "Accounting Infrastructure" to Achieve Development under Belt and Road Initiative
Experts Call to Develop "Accounting Infrastructure" to Achieve Development under Belt and Road Initiative
Experts Call to Develop "Accounting Infrastructure" to Achieve Development under Belt and Road Initiative
By Muhammad Arif
Shanghai, July 17: A High-level International forum focusing on the role of "Accounting Infrastructure" to boost Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was held at Shanghai National Accounting Institute (SNAI) in Shanghai city, China's financial hub on July 14, 2017. The topic was of great interests to financial policy makers, business enterprises, practitioners of accounting and theoretical researchers.
Some 400 delegates from 17 countries, including officials from government departments, academics, representatives of international agencies, Chinese and foreign enterprises, who were actively engaged in the construction of "Belt and Road Initiative", conducted discussions on the challenges of accounting system as more than 65 countries are involved in the Initiative, and have different financial system, applications, rules and procedures for the accounting.
Participants discussed accounting system, tax risks, and capital market and talent cultivation during the seminar.
Seminar was held with collaboration of SNAI, ASC, ACCA, Deloitte and Inspur.
Participants emphasized that state agencies and enterprises should carry out various forms of coordination and cooperation to strengthen the accounting infrastructure.
Highlighting the achievements of BRI, Assistant Minister Zhao Mingji, China's Ministry of Finance, said "after nearly four years of efforts for construction of "Belt and Road Initiative", fruitful results have been achieved in the areas of policy communication, infrastructure facilities, trade flow, financial supply and people to people exchanges".
To promote the communication and exchange of accounting standards in various countries, it is necessary to enhance understanding and share experiences on accounting infrastructure, he added.
Zhao Mingji called to strengthen the internationalization of accounting personnel training.
To effectively promote the “Belt and Road Initiative” strategy, Minister urged to enhance collaboration between the relevant state agencies and enterprises handling the BRI development projects.
He also proposed to adopt a common business language and common financial system for smooth execution of projects under the Belt and Road Initiative.
“The accounting standards of each country in Asia and Europe are different. Therefore, it is an inevitable requirement for economic globalization to promote the international convergence of accounting standards, and strengthen the communication and coordination between Belt and Road countries regarding accounting standards”, he noted.
He also urged the policy makers to strengthen the internationalization of accounting personnel training to provide necessary support to accounting professionals from Belt and Road countries.
Highlighting the features of "accounting infrastructure" concept, Professor, Mr. Kouqing, Dean of Shanghai National Accounting Institute, said "accounting information provides the necessary prerequisite for judging the operating conditions of the trading companies and determining the transaction arrangements between the economic entities”.
He said “a complete accounting infrastructure system includes the accounting standards and the accounting personnel system, accounting information system and the accounting supervision system which provides necessary support for smooth execution of development projects of BRI”.
He further said that there are more than 60 countries across the Belt and Road region, with significant differences in their level of economic development and significant differences in their degree of accounting infrastructure and accounting procedures. Therefore, there is need to develop professional resources on accounting standards and network of accounting personnel for effective implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative.
During the forum, scholars also held in-depth discussions on topic ‘Accounting System: Differences and Coordination’, and said to boost coordination to overcome the differences of accounting system in the countries of Belt and Road- having different local culture, different official languages and different accounting system.
Accounting experts called to take effective measures to promote the common accounting system in BRI region to achieve the goals of common development and green development of the BRI.
The experts also discussed the differences in national tax system, tax collection procedures and other aspects of the larger differences of taxation in countries and regions along the Belt and Road.
Taxation is important pillar for building accounting infrastructure.
Officials and representatives of various companies analyzed the differences in the tax environment in the countries along the Belt and Road, and put forward their opinions on how to effectively identify and avoid tax risks, strengthen coordination, and safeguard legitimate business rights and economic interests of investors in the BRI regions, and promote inter-regional economic and trade cooperation.
They also highlighted the possible tax risks for investors who could face tax risks while engaging in the cross-border business.
Speaking on capital markets, economic integration and mutual development under BRI, financing and investment experts from Asian Development Bank and European Parliament said “more and more cross-border mergers, acquisitions and financing activities could be seen as the Belt and Road Initiative picks steam. Therefore, capital financing is an important support for the construction of “Belt and Road Initiative ".
In promoting the common prosperity and development in the countries along Belt and Road region, it is necessary to strengthen the coordination in areas of accounting, taxation and financing policies among the development agencies working for BRI projects in the region.
To avoid the collision and confrontation among state agencies and enterprises, there is need of understanding of various cultural norms and effective coordination in a variety of areas of the accounting infrastructure being used in the regions of Belt and Road.
Some scholars proposed to cultivate international talent in accounting sector as it was also valuable to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the Belt and Road plan.
The more economic development, the more accounting involves because accounting information in the process of international enterprises plays a pivotal role, a foreign scholar said.
Sam Wang, Executive President of Inspur and working as consulting expert of Ministry of Finance, in his remarks called to use the digital technology to build “Cloud and Belt and Road Initiative”.
The forum concluded with proposals saying that “accounting infrastructure" can play its role in the development process of Belt and Road Initiative, therefore, theoretical researchers, policy makers, local partners, industry professionals, university experts and scholars should; combine their local experience with international perspective, enhance coordination for capital market integration and taxation process, and jointly design a roadmap for the future development under BRI.
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