IPSAS PARTNER Assists Governments in transition to IPSAS Accounting
Standards while improving Transparency and Accountability

Toronto, Canada, 30 September, 2011- Issues Central, building on the experience it has developed
helping businesses around the world transition to International Financial reporting Standards
(IFRS) using IFRS PARTNER, has developed and launched IPSAS PARTNER. This new product has been designed to assist the public sector adopt International Public Sector Accounting Standards
(IPSAS). IPSAS is based on IFRS and is the public sector counterpart of the private sector's
reporting requirements.

Issues Central's IPSAS PARTNER is a set of software tools and capacity building methods designed to help public sector organizations with the adoption or transition to accrual based accounting using
IPSAS. IPSAS PARTNER provides a framework on which the organization can work through the standards, comparing current reporting practices, identification of the reporting gaps, development of reporting policies, as well as developing the required disclosure notes required by IPSAS.

The IPSAS PARTNER methodology is as follows:

• Phase 1 – Capacity Building and Training Workshops
  
• Phase 2 - Preliminary Plan and Scoping
  
• Phase 3 - Detailed Assessment, Conversion Planning and Development
  
• Phase 4 - Implementation and Parallel Reporting
  
• Phase 5 - Live IPSAS Operating Processes, Ongoing Monitoring, New Standards Changes

The benefits of the tools and methodology have been proven with many years of experience in the
private sector with IFRS transition using the sister product suite, IFRS PARTNER, and methodologies
based on experience in IPSAS transition projects at North American Treaty Organisation (NATO) and other public sector projects.

This allows the application of real-world government project experience blended with private sector
IFRS transition experience to be applied to complex government transition projects. The methodology blends software tools with proprietary methods deployed using a unique capacity building approach which efficiently infusing knowledge while participants build the requ ired policies and documentation for the project using our tools in our workshops. In essence, learn by doing as well as simultaneously completing project deliverables.

More and more governments are adopting IPSAS as the financial reporting standard because of its
inherent transparency and because it provides much better comparability to other governments. The benefits of adopting IPSAS also include better access to financing either through bond releases or international financing through organizations such as the IMF or the World Bank.

Much of the impetus for adopting IPSAS has come from the financial and sovereign debt crises. These problems have brought to light the need for better financial reporting by governments worldwide, and the need for improvements in the management of public sector resources. Citizens are directlyaffected by a government's financial management decisions.

By using IPSAS, governments are made more accountable to their constituents. The failure of governments to manage their finances has in the past, and could again in the future, have dramatic consequences such as loss of democratic control, social unrest, and the failure of governments to meet their commitments today and in the future.

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