MICEX head comments on IAS

Numerous scandals around false accounting reports of Western companies show that there are problems in the use of the International Accounting Standards (IAS), Alexander Zakharov, general director of Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange (MICEX), said in an interview with RBC. "The situation with Enron and a number of other companies shows that neither IAS nor ratings, nor audit conclusions give true information that protects investors' interests", he specified.

Zakharov believes that these structural problems of IAS should be reconsidered. "If IAS do not reflect the real situation of a company, then an analysis and, probably, some changes are necessary", he noted. At the same time he admitted that Russian companies should not postpone the process of introducing IAS.

Another problem is the honesty of audit companies. According to the head of MICEX, brand names of audit companies are no longer a kind of a 'quality seal' for investors.

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