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This report provides an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the existing financial reporting infrastructure that underpins financial accounting and auditing practices in Mozambique. The assessment focuses on six pillars of financial reporting infrastructure: statutory framework, professional education and training, accountancy profession, accounting standards, auditing standards, and monitoring and enforcement of the applicable standards. The main purpose of this assessment is to assist the development and implementation of a country action plan for strengthening institutional capacity with attendant effect on enhancing corporate financial reporting in Mozambique. All the corporate entities in Mozambique, including investments with foreign participation, are affected by a serious shortage of qualified accountants and trained accounting technicians. Best estimates are that there are less than 50 fully qualified accountants working in Mozambique (mostly in the Maputo area), and that of these only 2 are citizens of Mozambique. Most of the corporate financial statements in the country are therefore prepared by accounting technicians whose level of skill and training is variable. At one extreme, a limited number of accounting technicians have completed training, which has not prepared them nearly at the level of a qualified accountant; and at another extreme, many technicians have no formal training. Most of the financial statement audits in the country are primarily carried out by representatives of the 6 international networks. The lack of senior-level local staff within those networks is of concern particularly as regulators lack any capacity to monitor the quality of financial reporting.

Accounting --- Corporate Data and Reporting --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Financial Regulation & Supervision --- Governance --- Private Sector Development

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Core to an effective financial consumer protection framework is an accessible and efficient recourse mechanism that allows consumers both to know and to assert their rights to have their complaints addressed and resolved in a transparent and just way within a reasonable timeframe. Complaints handling mechanisms are especially important for low-income and vulnerable financial consumers, to whom timely and effective recourse processes can have a decisive influence over their trust in their financial service provider (FSP) and in the financial sector in general. Increased trust contributes to consumers' uptake and sustained usage of financial services and, consequently, their economic livelihoods. Financial consumer complaints handling mechanisms comprise two stages: complaints that are handled by FSPs, generally referred to as internal dispute resolution (IDR); and complaints that, if not satisfactorily resolved, are handled by an alternative, out-of-court process, generally referred to as external dispute resolution (EDR). There are several international sources of principles applicable to complaints handling and resolution processes and procedures to be established by FSPs. Drawing from the World Bank's Good Practices for Financial Consumer Protection, the work of international bodies, such as the Group of Twenty (G20)/Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Task Force on Financial Consumer Protection, as well as selected country experiences this Technical Note highlights considerations that aim to provide a methodological guidance for regulators and FSPs when developing and implementing IDR frameworks to ensure they are consistent with international good practices. This Technical Note synthesizes concepts, principles, and practices for IDR mechanisms for financial consumers and shares examples of legal and regulatory requirements for FSPs to resolve complaints and to ensure that complaints- related data is collected, analyzed, and shared as appropriate to support improvements in FSP performance, industry market conduct, and market conduct regulation.

Corporate Data and Reporting --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Financial Regulation and Supervision --- Private Sector Development --- Public Sector Development --- Transparency

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The quality of financial reporting depends to a great extent on the quality of the Accounting and Auditing (A&A) standards on which the reporting is based. Accounting standards are seen as a critical language of business. In countries seeking to improve their business environment to attract foreign direct investment and mobilize savings and finance to support productive and job-creating activities, if national accounting standards differ significantly from the increasingly universal international benchmark, International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), it becomes difficult for foreign investors to understand the financial reports of domestic companies, thus potentially hampering investment and growth. The objective of the financial reporting standards analysis is to compare national financial reporting standards (or generally accepted accounting principles - national (GAAP) with IFRS with a view to capturing significant differences (where applicable) in order to provide: (a) readers with a clear sense of where key areas of divergence lie, and (b) country counterparts with concrete suggestions for improving national GAAP and aligning them to the extent possible with IFRS.

Accounting --- Corporate Data and Reporting --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Financial Regulation & Supervision --- Governance --- International Financial Reporting Standards --- Non Bank Financial Institutions --- Private Sector Development

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The purpose of this report is to gain an understanding of the regulatory environment for auditors in a jurisdiction and the extent of quality assurance and oversight that takes place. In the Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC) Accounting and Auditing (A&A) diagnostic assessment, quality assurance (QA) refers to the system in place in a jurisdiction to monitor compliance of the work performed by independent auditors with applicable auditing, ethical, and other professional standards via on-site inspections and other activities. QA inspections and other activities may be carried out by a separate audit firm (a peer review system), a professional accountancy organization (which in some circumstances has been delegated this responsibility by a government body or regulator), or by an audit regulator independent of the accountancy profession. Questions are based on the core principles for independent audit regulators issued by the International Forum of International Audit Regulators (IFIAR) and statement of membership obligations, QA as issued by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). The report is structured as follows: regulatory environment for auditors; QA and audit oversight system; QA review procedures, approach, and communication of findings; QA inspectors; and investigations and sanctions.

Accounting --- Corporate Data and Reporting --- Corporate Governance --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Financial Regulation --- Financial Regulation & Supervision --- Governance --- International Financial Reporting Standards --- Private Sector Development --- Quality Assurance --- Sanctions

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This discussion paper is a product of the from disclosure to development (D2D) program, led by the sustainable infrastructure advisory team of the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The program, launched in 2017, is funded by the BHP Foundation and implemented in collaboration with the World Bank. The program's goal is to enhance benefit sharing with communities from investment in natural resources through effective disclosure and data-use practices. D2D develops and tests new approaches, partnerships, and platforms aimed at improving the ways in which companies and governments disclose data, so that communities and other stakeholders can use it to inform their decisions and actions. To bridge the information asymmetry in the sector and give voice to communities, D2D works to improve the disclosure and use of open data with capacity building, multi-stakeholder dialogues, and data-driven innovation activities with youth, infomediaries, and digital entrepreneurs. The D2D program uses lessons learned from these in-country activities to contribute to global efforts to improve transparency in the natural resources sector through more effective disclosure and use of data. In the coming years, D2D plans to expand to other countries and infrastructure sectors and to add a gender data component.

Accountability --- Corporate Data and Reporting --- Corporate Social Responsibility --- Disclosure --- Energy --- Energy and Natural Resources --- Natural Resources Management --- Participations and Civic Engagement --- Private Sector Development --- Social Development --- Transparency