On March 23, 2011 the Foundation “National Organization for Financial Accounting and Reporting Standards”, the Finance Ministry of the Russian Federation and KPMG of Russia held a joint conference on "Concept for the Development of Accounting in Russia: What Next?" A joint conference on "Concept for the Development of Accounting in Russia: What Next?" was held on March 23, 2011 On March 23, 2011 the Foundation “National Organization for Financial Accounting and Reporting Standards”, the Finance Ministry of the Russian Federation and KPMG of Russia held a joint conference on "Concept for the Development of Accounting in Russia: What Next?" The conference was aimed to get the professional community actively involved in developing major directions of accounting and reporting process in Russia and in collaborating with regulators and professional organizations while tackling these challenges. The panel sessions discussed important aspects of the future development and regulation of accounting and auditing. These issues were brought to the forefront in the week before the conference with President Medvedev's announcement that the use of IFRS will be mandatory for Russian publicly listed companies from January 1, 2012. Kirill Altukhov, Partner, Audit, KPMG in Russia and the CIS, said: "The conference organizers faced a difficult task: to define the main areas of the new concept for the development of accounting in Russia. This task made the conference unique, not only in terms of the range and relevance of the issues discussed (specifically, areas of the development and regulation of accounting and the professional activities of the accounting and audit communities (the first time these issues were discussed together)), but also in terms of its participants. The keen interest shown by all the conference participants makes us believe that the initiative will be a success!" The opening speech was given by Andrew Cranston, Senior Partner at KPMG in Russia and the CIS. Mikhail Orlov, a Tax & Legal Partner and Head of the Litigation Group at KPMG in Russia, moderated one of the sessions, on accounting regulation. The conference brought together more than 150 representatives of the corporate sector and regulatory bodies. The speakers included Sergei Shatalov, Russia's Deputy Finance Minister, Alexander Murychev, First Executive Vice-President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Viktor Pleskachevsky, Chairman of the Property Committee of the State Duma, and Alla Gryaznova, President of the Financiers’ Guild and President of the Audit Chamber of Russia. The Finance Ministry was represented by Leonid Shneidman, Head of the Department for the Regulation of State Financial Control, Auditing, Accounting and Reporting, and Igor Sukharev, Head of the Department of Accounting Methodology and Reporting. They expressed their willingness to discuss openly the changes required and the most effective approaches to meeting the objectives set, and called on the professional community to become actively involved in the process. Mr. Shneidman, Head of the Department for the Regulation of State Financial Control, Auditing, Accounting and Reporting, said: "The conference is very important for work on the main areas of development for accounting and professional accounting and auditing activities in Russia. It marks the start of a new stage in cooperation between the professional community and regulatory bodies." The participants from international professional organizations shared their experiences of meeting similar challenges in Europe and other countries worldwide. Göran Tidström, President of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), Hans van Damme, Member of the EFRAG Supervisory Board and former President of the Federation of European Accountants (FEE), and Tatiana Krylova, Head of the Enterprise Development Branch at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), gave speeches. Igor Kozyrev, Chairman of the Managing Board of the NOFA Foundation and Chief Accountant at Lukoil, said: "Further development of the accounting system in Russia, primarily the adoption of IFRS, is necessary if the government's initiative to make Moscow an international financial center is to be successful. From this point of view, it is important for a constant dialog to be maintained between all interested parties –report writers, users and regulators. The conference made it possible to take the dialog to a new level, and showed the prospects for the development of accounting in this country." More than 1500 people from across Russia who were unable to attend the conference in person viewed a live webcast of the event and sent comments and questions to the discussion participants.