UPDATED JAN. 12, 2010
Introduction
The importance of SMPs and SMEs was made clear from the IFAC Global Leadership Survey (GLS) 2008 conducted in the final quarter of last year (see http://www.ifac.org/MediaCenter/?q=node/view/605) in which survey respondents said that the most important issue facing the profession in 2009 is addressing the needs of SMEs and SMPs. The GLS for 2009 is likely to say much the same. Bob Bunting, IFAC President, said that this will be a priority for IFAC over the termof his office (2009-2010): "The survey confirms that meeting the needs of SMPs and SMEs is a global concern and a global goal. These entities are among those likely to suffer significantly from the current financial crisis yet they are among the least at fault. We must look for ways to mitigate the effect of the crisis on SMPs and SMEs." IFAC re-iterated this point in its last submission to the G20 (see http://www.ifac.org/MediaCenter/?q=node/view/660).
Resources to Help
Potentially SMPs have a key role to play in helping SMEs cope with the economic crisis and ultimately recover. Accordingly, early in 2009 IFAC launched a website that serves as an international clearinghouse of programs, articles, speeches, and other initiatives undertaken by IFAC, its independent standard setting boards, members and associates and others that are relevant to professional accountants and its many stakeholders. See http://www.ifac.org/credit-crisis/. The website hosts resources for SMPs and SMEs at http://www.ifac.org/financial-crisis/smp-sme-links.php. These resources supplement the IFAC SMP Committee's database of relevant links to free resources at http://www.ifac.org/SMP/relevant_links.php as well as its own Twitter site at http://twitter.com/IFAC_SMP.
Please tell us your experiences coping with the slowdown and how useful these resources are.