It’s official: accountancy isn’t boring any more. In fact it could help end poverty.
Accounting rules currently allow multinationals to wriggle out of paying billions of dollars in tax – $160bn a year according to our maths – money that ought to be fuelling poor countries’ development.
The UK government has already echoed Christian Aid's call for companies to declare their profits and tax bills in every country in which they work.
Now we need action to help change the accounting rules, and the ‘Big Four’ accountancy firms, Deloitte, Ernst and Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) and KPMG, can help make this happen.
Multinational companies must account for their profits on a country-by-country basis.
This way poor-country governments and NGOs would be far better placed to demand a fairer share of the wealth generated in their countries.
Currently, accounting rules only call for companies to declare one figure for the amount of profit they make worldwide.
There is nothing that says they must report how much money they make – and taxes they pay – in every country in which they operate.
This opens the way for all manner of tax dodging, legal and not so legal.
We are already asking you to call on the UK government to act on tax dodging. We also need change to come from the financial sector.
Who makes the rules?
The London-based International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) sets the rules which every company registered in Europe and many besides must follow.
The Big Four are key members of the IASB, with substantial influence on decisions that set the international accounting rules.
We’ve spoken with all of the Big Four, and none of them has indicated that they are willing to support country-based reporting of profits.
Nor have they managed to give a convincing argument as to why this would not be a good idea.
Join us in trying to convince them. Let them know we need the way they do business to change.
Email the Big Four accountancy firms now