Mr. William Beausang:

The issue the Comptroller and Auditor General raised that is highlighted in the report is a sort of permanent Government financial reporting unit at the centre, in the Department of Finance and DPER, with a sort of technical financial expertise to drive forward the agenda in terms of financial reporting. That falls to be progressed on the basis of the professionalisation agenda that is set out in the Civil Service renewal plan. Work has been ongoing on scoping out what a chief financial officer role in Government would look like. Obviously, that person would be absolutely vital to driving forward on that standardisation, harmonisation and uniformity, that the Deputy has referred to and that is picked up on as a weakness in the IMF report.

In terms of financial reporting standards, we in DPER are engaged in the European process. There are international public sector accounting standards. Europe is looking at how they might be tailored to a European context through the development of a European public sector accounting standard. We participate in that work. The discussions are complex. I should say there are very significant issues that come through for each country in terms of translating the international standard into a workable European system and there has to be a decision at the European level as to whether there will be a standard which all countries will then have to comply with. That is work in progress. It is a project that will run over a number of years. It is not something that will come to an end in the short term, given the complexity of the issues that it gives rise to.