The Publish What You Pay campaign is where inter­na­tional politics, financial reporting, and the devel­oping world intersect. The campaign seeks to force companies in extractive indus­tries (such as oil and gas) to make public their payments to govern­ments in the devel­oping world.

It began in 1999 with an “exposé of the apparent complicity of the oil and banking indus­tries in the plundering of state assets during Angola ‘s 40-year civil war. It became clear that the refusal to release financial infor­mation by major multi­na­tional oil companies aided and abetted the misman­agement and embez­zlement of oil revenues by the elite in the country.”

The campaign is supported by numerous charities and political organi­za­tions such as Oxfam Great Britain and Human Rights Watch. They lobby bodies like the World Bank and IMF, as well the IASB, the Inter­na­tional Accounting Standards Board.

Publish What You Pay calls for an Inter­na­tional Financial Reporting Standard for the extractive indus­tries to include a requirement that extractive industry companies disclose in their accounts all payments that they make to the govern­ments of countries in which they extract resources, and to agencies or repre­sen­ta­tives of those governments.

Sounds like a good idea to me. It’s actually surprising to me as a young idealist that this isn’t already part of inter­na­tional standards. But the most recent letter sent from PWYP to the IASB on the matter expresses the campaign’s conster­nation with the IASB’s actions to date, and I have to agree.

The IASB’s proposed standard leaves segmen­tation up to management’s discretion, rather than mandating country-by-country grouping. The standard is barely even that — it basically just codifies laissez-faire.

I’m dismayed to say the least by the lack of support this has received from the Board thus far. In a few years I will be working primarily with IFRS as Canadian GAAP converges. I’d like to see a greater sense of urgency on their part in matters of this importance.

The PWYP letter smartly points out “companies already need to generate [country-by-country segmenting] in order to complete tax returns in each country of operation, this should not prove an additional burden.” They also use the lingo: “The citizens of [poor yet resource-rich] countries are important, if non-traditional, users of financial infor­mation.”

This is one of those areas where the IASB could showcase those pervasive qualities in public accoun­tancy like ethical conduct and protecting the public interest.