Foreign auditors not allowed to sign financial statements from 2014 in Cambodia

via CAAI

September 20, 2010

Foreign accountants and auditors will be no longer allowed to certify financial statements from 2014, said a senior finance official on Monday.

"Even if the mutual agreement between Cambodia and other countries has not been implemented, the foreign professional accountants and auditors are welcomed and allowed to freely practicing their profession in Cambodia," Ngy Tayi, Secretary of State for the Ministry of Economy and Finance and Chairman of the National Accounting Council, said on Monday at the National Conference on Accounting "Accountants for Business: Changing Roles for Accountants" in Phnom Penh.

Today, there are 31 accounting and auditing firms operating and practicing their service in Cambodia, however, "from 2014, only Cambodian accountants and auditors will be allowed to certify on company's financial statements", he said.

"This is our challenges, especially, when securities and exchange markets are placed into operations in mid 2011," he said.

He said that accountant is an important element of economic activities for both companies and regulators, however, Cambodia is far short of these human resources.

"Until today, we have about 46 Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) students and 76 Certified Accountants Technician (CAT) students graduated," he said. "We expect that another about 100 candidates will be graduated by the end of this year."

He said that Cambodia also has huge university graduates but their quality is limited.

Source: Xinhua