The first session of a new meeting series to improve international financial disclosure was held last month. The session, “Towards Greater Financial Disclosure,” united business leaders, academia, regulators, government officials, accounting industry experts and financial institutions from Asia, Europe and North America. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (DTT), a global professional services firm, was responsible for initiating the meeting series.

International financial disclosure is a global issue that has been described as a “significant contributing factor to the Asian Economic Crisis.” Leaders are no longer blindly make decisions about stock markets.

The six panelists attending the session offered a range of approaches that could improve financial disclosure. Four essential concepts emerged:

1. Corporate governance is vital to ensure the quality of data
2. Transparency must be connected to accountability
3. A new reporting strategy must be developed which verifies the benefit of financial transparency
4. Public and private sectors must work together to find a solution

The session was moderated by Rick Murray, Director of Legal and Regulatory Affairs for DTT. Panelists included Matthew Saal, Director of Medley Global Advisors; Dr. Buhmsoo Choi, Senior Counselor for the Korean Financial Supervisory Commission; and Dr. Nilanjan Sen, Senior Fellow at Nanyang Technological University of Singapore.