XVII Meeting of Accounting and Budgeting Aspects of Central Banking

For several years, CEMLA has been organizing this important meeting in response to a request from the CEMLA Accounting Committee, to carry out activities for discussion and exchange of experiences on issues relevant to the accounting and budget of the central banks of the region.

 

The Center for Latin American Monetary Studies (CEMLA) and Banco Central de Paraguay held in digital form the " XVII Meeting of Accounting and Budgeting Aspects of Central Banking" in virtual format on May 6 and 7, 2021. The Meeting served as a forum for discussion and exchange of experiences and regional perspectives on recent developments in central bank accounting and budgeting. The Meeting was aimed at heads of accounting and budget areas of the Associate Central Banks of CEMLA and other invited institutions.

The Meeting was attended by over 200 participants representing the central banks of Latin America and the Caribbean, central banks of Canada, Spain, Italy, Philippines and Portugal. The meeting featured prominent panelists from the region, as well as representatives from the Banco de España and the International Monetary Fund.

The meeting analyzed and discussed key aspects and practical developments on the strategy of central banks to address the new social, economic and financial needs posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and new technologies.

The meeting was opened by Dr. Diego Duarte Smuller, Member of the Board of the Banco Central del Paraguay, who highlighted the importance of the meeting due to the opportunity to exchange experiences on the use and application of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in the different central banks under the pandemic.

Session 1. Adoption of IFRS in the central banks of Latin America and the Caribbean

The first session had to do with the adoption of the IFRS in central banking, from a general guideline’s perspective to their application in recent cases.

In this session it was mentioned that the recent work of the International Monetary Fund to create a guide for the application of IFRS in central banks is an important step, considering that each central bank is different, carries out different operations and has different levels of development. The objective of having a guidance like the one developed by the IMF is to promote greater transparency and coherence for central banks that apply and those that do not apply IFRS. The guidance provides a model of the structure that aims to describe the situation of the central bank where the notes are ordered according to their importance and the accounting policies are in line for a good presentation of the financial statements.

Likewise, it was stressed that an understandable balance sheet is essential for investors and financial sector confidence in the central bank's ability to conduct monetary policy, maintain financial stability, and protect the financial sector.

The session continued with a presentation from the Banco Central del Paraguay that shared its experience in the Transition Process to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), the current situation, the convergence process, the stages in the transition process, the main activities related to adoption, the impact of the adoption process and a projection on the adoption of IFRS.

In 2008, several Latin American central banks began the adoption of IFRS and in 2016 the Banco Central del Paraguay decided to start the process of adopting IFRS. In 2018 there was an important change in the central bank's charter in order to align with IFRS. It was commented that currently in Paraguay there is no legal framework that establishes the mandatory adoption of IFRS in the private sector, but the Ministry of Finance in 2015 authorized a project to adopt the International Public Sector Accounting Standards, which results in the Banco Central del Paraguay can also adapt to those international standards with the main objective of generating financial information based on these international criteria. On the other hand, the Banco Central del Paraguay has worked with the support of international organizations for such adoption. In 2018, the Board of Directors of the Banco Central del Paraguay approved an implementation plan based on the best international practices applicable to central banking with the aim of generating financial information with greater transparency and reliability.

This presentation was concluded by noting that it is expected to be able to issue financial reports in 2021 based on IFRS as applicable to the central bank. It was remarked that the main impacts of the convergence process have been the following: there has been a modification in the accounting language based on IFRS, modification in the chart of accounts, in the accounting policies, financial reports are being generated under standards applicable to the central bank considering IFRS as a basis and work has been done on the modifications of notes to the financial statements, observing important changes in the information systems and procedures.

The session ended with a presentation from the Banco Central del Ecuador (BCE) that shared the experience of adopting IFRS. In 2018, the initiative commenced to analyze this convergence. The objective of IFRS implementation, for the Banco Central del Ecuador, is to promote the adoption of internationally accepted standards in the rest of the country's institutions that generate confidence and competitiveness in the sector, although there is no obligation for the national financial system, the Banco Central del Ecuador wishes to be the pioneer and thus identify the impacts and the way forward for the rest of the financial institutions, which will help provide standardized information to international markets.

In the Banco Central del Ecuador, 4 major components have been identified: 1) a set of standards constantly updated, evaluated and adapted according to the evolution of international markets, 2) ongoing and specialized training program for the personnel involved in the financial information process within the central bank, 3) benchmarking or comparison of financial information between organizations of the same nature, and, 4) an accounting and operating system that has the application of methodologies updated, evaluated and adapted to the global context. The IFRS implementation project was born in 2018 with the support of CEMLA and the Banco de España and their Technical Assistance Program. In 2019, work was done on the development of a pilot project to be brought to the attention of the senior management of the BCE, information was collected with the experience of other central banks in the region. Finally, the project was authorized, which implied the allocation of resources and a schedule to be carried out, in 2020 and 2021 they are in full execution of the project, the goal is to finish it in 2021 and early 2022 obtaining the reports and auditable financial statements under this new regulation.

The major impacts on the adoption of IFRS for the Banco Central del Ecuador are several. The first has been in IFRS 1, consisting of changing the structure of presentation of the information that was usually being carried out; in the application of IFRS 9, the administration of financial instruments, they have accepted that in most cases they comply with the requirements of IFRS 9; With respect to the International Accounting Standard (IAS) 16 of property, plant and equipment has had a significant impact since by local regulations most of the assets of the Banco Central del Ecuador have been valued in a different way and at the time of applying this regulation there will be a significant revaluation and changes in the depreciation and registration process of this group of assets; In what corresponds to IAS 38 and IFRS 16 on leases and intangible assets, an impact has been seen in the recording procedures and in the methodology with which these assets are currently being recorded on the balance sheet of the central bank; in what corresponds to employee benefits in the application of IAS 9 has hired firms that provide the service of and actuarial studies, in this way they are involving all the requirements of IAS 9 in their studies.

Regarding the main challenges, it is considered to solve how to apply international regulations if by local regulations there are certain accounts or certain elements of the balance sheet that have very specific characteristics regarding responsibility, returns, maturities, therefore, an analysis is being carried out together with authorities and the Ministry of Finance to see what is the best way to register this type of assets. Likewise, other limitations refer to the change of government that entails a change in personnel and it is because coordination is intense, but work continues to achieve the objective.

Session 2. Aspects related to the application of IFRS 9

The session began with a presentation by Banco de la República, Colombia on the adoption of IFRS as a process established by law for public and private, financial and non-financial companies and the information has been presented since 2015. In particular, on the experience to adopt the IFRS 9: financial instruments that was carried out as of January 1, 2018. The Banco de la República prepares the financial statements in accordance with the IFRS in force in Colombia, and in the In the case of financial instruments, the exceptions correspond to international reserves, according to the provisions of Law 31 of 1992 (Bank Law) and its Statutes, the foreign exchange adjustment is recorded in an equity account and not in the income statement, and in the case of the loan portfolio and its impairment, its treatment must adhere to the provisions of the Financial Superintendency of Colombia.

The new version of IFRS 9 introduced the following changes: a) Recognition and classification of financial instruments, b) Impairment of financial instruments and, c) Hedge accounting: the BR does not apply the latter. The IFRS 9 introduces the impairment based on expected credit losses model, that is, it requires that expected credit losses be recognized over the life of financial assets with significant increases in credit risk, from initial recognition. On the other hand, the operations of the international reserve portfolios continue in the fair value classification with changes to income. The operations of the securities portfolio held by the Bank comply with the management model and characteristics established in IFRS 9 for the classification at fair value with changes to the Other Integral Results.

The session continued with a presentation from the Banco Central de Costa Rica. This presentation began with a mention of documents issued by the World Bank that provide guidance regarding the guidelines in application of IFRS 9 for the international reserves of a central bank; likewise, on the issue of expected losses, it was commented that in the case of Costa Rica, other BIS documents were reviewed. One of the first questions was whether there could be a single financial asset management model for the bank in accounting terms or if several models could coexist at the same time, from the above it has been concluded that it is possible to apply several models in a central bank and that this will converge with the focus of the business area regarding the management of the different financial assets. It was mentioned that it is essential to understand the instruments that are being managed, their characteristics, and their entire structure in order to make an appropriate analysis and to reach correct conclusions.

For the business model applicable to international reserve assets, it must be clear about the objectives for each section of the International Reserve Assets, the frequency, value and dates of sale in previous periods, reasons for such sales and expectations about future sales and the bases for decision-making, since the Central Bank's management is mainly focused on fair value information for decision-making. It was also pointed out that it is very important to review the impacts at the systems level, beyond the name of items, classifications, if there is a need to make adjustments in any way, changes more in terms of accounting policies, to verify that the policy in case at some point you had a derivative instrument within a fixed income asset. The standard provides simplified methods for certain types of very particular assets, simplified to take to a specific category and to review historical information, generate statistics of defaults of non-payments to build a rate for different tranches of arrears of those items and find out the it would be the recoverability amount and to be able to estimate the expected credit losses.

The session concluded with a presentation made by the Banco Central de Chile about the adoption of IFRS 9. It began by indicating how the central bank is constituted, its functions and powers and why the bank decides to use IFRS in the presentation of its financial statements and the main disclosures after applying IFRS. It was commented that in 2005 the IMF indicated to central banks the need to adopt a general accounting standard like the IFRS. CEMLA applied a survey regarding the possibility of central banks to apply a standard and it was defined that one of the conditions for applying IFRS was the regulation and legal provisions of some banks, for its part, CEMLA's Accounting Committee concluded that banks could apply IFRS, the Banco Central de Chile decided to use IFRS in 2009. In 2014 the full application of IFRS was decided and the main impact for the central bank was the change in valuation, it was left aside from the conservative criterion and the international reserves were mainly recorded, that meant a positive result, the monetary correction was stopped applying and produced an increase in the detail in the information that is incorporated in the notes to the financial statements, with the application of these notes increased transparency in the financial statements and at the same time, there was a need for the participation of other areas because it incorporates legal and risk aspects, aspects related to human resources, among others.

In this participation, it was highlighted that the presentation of the central bank's financial statements is framed within an economic accounting scheme that allows reflecting the financial situation and facilitates the economic analysis of the bank's operations, differentiating them from those carried out with internal agents of those that are carried out with foreign agents; Given the full application of IFRS, the financial statements presented by the central bank are: statement of financial position, statement of comprehensive income, statement of changes in equity, statement of cash flow and the notes that accompany these financial statements.

Session 3. Planning and budgeting in central banking

This session began with a presentation by representatives of the Banco Central de la República de Argentina (BCRA) who shared their experience on the planning and implementation of ERP software focusing on budgeting processes. It was commented that the BCRA pursued to integrate the processes and consolidate the information, likewise, mean the data and the applications in systems avoiding double loading of information, facilitate the monitoring of market operations, achieving the traceability of the information, and reduce the time in repetitive tasks and minimize the operational processes. At the project level, it was commented that the critical success factors were: consolidating the support of senior management, as well as achieving the commitment of the user and technical areas, considering that changes or the implementation of this project was transversal to the entire organization. Constant and effective communication was also important and the use of appropriate formal rating methodology.

In fact, it was commented that, with the implementation, it was possible to automate and integrate the following business areas of the BCRA: the administration of fixed assets, the budget process, the petty cash situation, the contracting process, procurement, the management of flight tickets and per diem for local and foreign missions and the payment settlement process. Regarding the process of formulation and execution of the BCRA budget, it was commented that, as of 2020, the formulation of the budget was transferred to the ERP system to carry out the execution and control, a very important factor is that it allows working remotely which has helped a lot with the current situation caused by the pandemic.

A noteworthy impact that the implementation of the ERP had is that all current accounting schemes were surveyed and adapted to the new system, making the new system provide information at the accounting account and currency levels. During 2020, despite COVID-19, it was possible to work from home, access all the bank's systems, and work was done on testing the new system, which could provide both operations and reporting reliability. With the ERP system, double registration is avoided, it is possible to integrate new bank systems to the ERP, automated reports are obtained such as reports of reserve variations, monetary base variations, equity variations, daily balance, income statement, state flow of funds, state of evolution of net worth, all of them come out of the ERP.

The session continued with a presentation by the Banco Central do Brasil to share the experience on the cost accounting system.

The presentation began by noting that in the 1992 strategic planning it was decided to develop a cost system in the central bank for better corporate management. Later, with the enactment of the fiscal responsibility law in Brazil, this objective became a legal requirement. The law determined that every public institution must maintain a cost system to evaluate and monitor management, so the Banco Central do Brasil began a project that culminated in the development of the cost and management information system effectively launched in June 2010. It was also commented that, in 2018, the structure of the object of study of the cost system was completely reformulated to harmonize it with the value chain of the Banco Central do Brasil, and thus highlight all the activities that are carried out to fulfill its constitutional mission, categorized into processes of different goals. Finally, since 2020, a system review process has begun with the aim of promoting greater integration of the cost system with the accounting and budgeting systems and structuring new communication and reporting tools that encourage a more integrated use of information from costs in the organization.

Some objectives to be achieved with the system were established, the main ones being: measuring and verifying administrative costs, quantifying the value of the services offered to society and subsidizing planning and helping to control their exercise. In fact, it was determined that the best methodology to meet the objective would be the ABC method (Activity Based Costing). With this model in mind, the cost system of the Banco Central do Brasil operating unit was structured in modules based on these three dimensions: resources, activities and obligations. The resources module receives information from various systems and although the information is obtained by different systems, the values go through a validation process with the accounting balances in order to guarantee the consistency of the data, the main resources captured by the system. The costs of the Central Banco Central do Brasil are: personnel expenses, expenses with third-party services, such as contracts, technology and security, general expenses, such as water expenses, communication services and supply of materials, real estate expenses that include depreciation expenses, maintenance and renovation and furniture expenses.

The Banco Central do Brasil concluded its presentation by noting that this approach has allowed them to identify the costs of activities and processes, measure the resources used by each of the administrative units, departments and divisions, measure project costs, compare the costs of activities over time and measure the cost of services provided to third parties by subsidizing the collection of administration fees. In practice, it has also been used to carry out studies on the allocation of labor and process automation, studies on mobility, restructuring and selection processes, prices of services provided to third parties and analysis of regional costs; The intention is that the cost system be expanded so that there is a structured and constant process of information analysis for the total consolidation and full recognition of the cost system. This has been the most important challenge, making the information generated allow the establishment of goals and parameters that allow reasonable comparability, thus becoming a point of reference for the performance of the different processes.

Session 4. Other accounting developments in central banking: cash accounting and post-pandemic challenges

The session began with a presentation by the Banco de España on the issuance of banknotes, accounting reflection and meaning and its current evolution. This presentation started by noting that, in general, the volume of banknotes in circulation will depend on the public demand for cash and, in turn, the demand for cash depends on economic activity, the degree of use of banknotes as a means of payment by economic agents, acceptance of our banknotes in other countries as a form of savings and other factors such as a high inflation rate. It was also stated that most economies are issuers of banknotes in circulation and represent a liability for the central banks that have the power to issue it, it is a liability with no financial cost and no expiration date. In this respect, the banknotes in the boxes do not have an accounting reflection in the balance sheet of the central banks since they do not represent a commitment towards the outside, some central banks record them in assets at their cost as inventories or as an expense within the account of results. Overall, boxes banknotes are recognized in the accounts in order to control stocks and inflows and outflows of cash. As for the cost of the liability, the banknotes in circulation, it is a liability without financial cost, therefore, its total cost is the manufacturing cost and the handling cost, this can be calculated in annual terms.

It was mentioned that banknotes are a liability that finances profitable assets that normally generate interest income, the income generated by these assets financed by the liability "banknotes in circulation" is called seigniorage income. To calculate this net income, it would be necessary to deduct from the manufacturing cost involved in keeping these banknotes in circulation, in general, are not subject to specific accounting. Finally, the issue of why banknotes are accepted in payment of goods and services was discussed and the functions that money must fulfill as a means of exchange in transactions, unit of value of goods and services and form of savings to fulfill these were reviewed. functions the banknote must be accepted by everyone and generate trust, it must be easily transportable, divisible, non-perishable and unalterable over time and basically difficult to forge. The credibility of money depends on whoever receives it as a means of payment thinks that it will be accepted by others in the future and that its value will be maintained over time, the requirements are that the amount of money in circulation is controlled and have a reliable registration system. This presentation served to realize that the future of money in a digital format may involve important changes from the accounting point of view and that it is therefore important to have well-defined accounting criteria to have an economic dimension of this possible new representation of the issuance of money. trust.

The session concluded with a presentation by Banco de México on some accounting considerations at the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this presentation it was explained how they faced the situation and how they were operating from an accounting point of view. The presentation began by highlighting that Banco de México has its own financial information standards endorsed by the Mexican Council of Financial Information Standards, the body that issues accounting provisions in Mexico, updates are made annually to adhere to the provisions and at the same time to the Banco de México Law. With this accounting framework, with the onset of the pandemic, the Mexican Financial Reporting Standards (CINIF) issued several provisions, including evaluating whether it was possible to continue with the usual operation and with the same information or whether it would have to be carried out an adjustment in assets or in the settlement of liabilities that the central bank would be considering. Based on this, Banco de México identified the main repercussions in this regard; as part of this, it was evaluated that the most important implications were seen in the following topics: interruption in the supply chain, shortage in labor or in collection issues, which could have immediate effects on the capacity of the institution to adequately respond to your operation in times of crisis; there were pressures on cash flow, total or partial closing of businesses, which would significantly impact the variation in market prices and consequently there would be volatility in the valuation of financial instruments and this forced us to be very cautious in how they should be valued. the assets and liabilities of the entity; this point was of crucial importance due to the economic consequences of the closure of economic activities at the national and cross-border level. As part of this scenario, it was commented that the administration had to carefully evaluate the business postulate in progress during the pandemic, so that in relation to accounting there would be the greatest availability and clarity of relevant information on these aspects and others that would demand an active position of the accounting and budgeting area.

It was underlined that by 2020, more data was available to be able to make a more critical evaluation of the situation and for this it was generalized for all the institutions that the administration should evaluate very punctually what the basic postulate of going concern would be and this within the period of the next twelve months if they were to continue operating normally and in case they should not evaluate their professional judgment and place a lot of emphasis on the uncertainty that they should consider to assess the liabilities if they were sufficient and if they would not have to make an increase in the same or an impairment was perceived in the assets that should be recognized as a reduction in their value.

An evaluation of expected losses was carried out at the end of the period considering the extraordinary situation and the forecasts were updated before the closing, if necessary, and with respect to the valuation of inventories, the central bank presented some of the fixed indirect expenses in the results. of the period. With respect to the valuation of long-lived assets, both impairment and depreciation were taken into account with the assumptions with which the initial assets are evaluated and the depreciations are determined, for example, they are different assumptions from those that occurred during the pandemic and in some cases the possibility of modifying depreciation methods had to be considered and any changes that had to be adjusted should be recognized prospectively.

It was necessary to review the part of non-compliance with financial agreements, many of the contracts foresee certain requirements that entities must meet to guarantee their debts or liabilities and in some cases certain financial reasons could have been affected as a result of the pandemic and had to be identified If the debt had to be presented as a liability or to make certain adjustments or provisions, in terms of hedging relationships, certain evaluations were also made, especially for forecasted transactions, which perhaps, as a result of the pandemic, were no longer carried out and appropriate adjustments would have to be made.

The presentation was concluded by noting that the central bank made liquidity facilities available to the market in order to contribute to the orderly functioning of financial markets, such as: increasing liquidity during operating hours to facilitate the functioning of the markets, expanding the eligible securities for other mechanisms that already existed, expansion of eligible counterparties, a window was opened for the acquisition of government securities in repo at terms greater than those normally used in the open market, a window was opened for temporary exchange of guarantees, repo of corporate securities to institutions of credit, provision of resources in banking situations to channel credit to micro, small and medium-sized companies and individuals affected by the pandemic, financing guaranteed with loans to companies, swap of government securities and finally the exchange hedging mechanism that is settled in pesos. The fact that the audited financial statements are based on sound accounting criteria made possible that the disclosures on the additional measures to provide liquidity and were available and reliable for the markets.

Meeting conclusion

The XVII Meeting of Accounting and Budgeting Aspects of Central Banking concluded with a round table in which different opinions were exchanged on the impact that the pandemic had on the accounting and budget teams. This session served to account for the importance of preparing and reporting information from central banks, even more so in times of such unusual crisis as that of COVID-19.

 

Thursday, May 6

Welcome Remarks
Diego Duarte Schussmuller, Banco Central del Paraguay

Session 1. Adoption of IFRS in Latin American and Caribbean Central Banks
Session moderated by Raúl Morales, CEMLA

• - Rudy Wytenburg, International Monetary Fund
• - Rocío María Martínez, Banco Central del Paraguay
• - Martín Acosta, Banco Central del Ecuador

 

Session 2. Aspects related to the application of IFRS 9
Session moderated by Antonio Núñez, Banco Central del Paraguay

• - Luisa Silva, Banco de la República
• - Mauricio Guevara, Banco Central de Costa Rica
• - Juan Carlos Salazar and Yerco Martínez, Banco Central de Chile

 

Friday, May 7

Session 3. Planning and budgeting in central bank
Session moderated by Omar Roberto Rodríguez, Banco Central del Paraguay

• - Gerardo Graziano, Livia Favale and Silvana Lepera, Banco Central de la República Argentina
• - Eduardo Russolo, Banco Central do Brasil

 

Session 4. Other Accounting development in central banking: cash accounting and post-pandemic challenges
Session moderated by Raúl Morales, CEMLA

• - Javier Pacios, Banco de España
• - Víctor Suárez and Flérida Gutiérrez, Banco de México

Roundtable: Post-pandemic challenges for accounting and budgeting areas of Latin American and Caribbean Central Banks
Session moderated by Juan Carlos Salazar, CEMLA Accounting Committee

 

 

Rudy Wytenburg
International Monetary Fund (IMF)

Rudy joined the International Monetary Fund in 2015 after twelve years working with the Bank of Canada. At the IMF, Rudy provides technical assistance on topics ranging from capital adequacy, accounting, auditing, financial management, strategic planning, risk management, project governance and IT systems. At the Bank of Canada, Rudy led the accounting and financial management operations including overseeing the project for the Bank of Canada’s transition to IFRS. Prior to the Bank of Canada, Rudy headed up financial departments at several leading Canadian organizations in the manufacturing and services sectors in both the private business and government. Throughout his career, he has played a lead role on many strategic projects helping businesses transform their operations by introducing innovative and cost-effective practices. Rudy is a Chartered Professional Accountant of Canada having graduated from Carleton University in Ottawa. Through his work with the IMF and Bank of Canada, he has collaborated with Central Banks from around the world to share best practices in accounting, administration and governance. He has had the pleasure of speaking on many different related topics at industry conferences and training sessions alike.

 

Rocío María Martínez
Banco Central del Paraguay

She was born in the city of Asunción (Paraguay) on April 27, 1988. Master in Banking and Finance from the Barcelona School of Management of the Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona - Spain). Diploma in International Financial Information Standards for Plenas (MASTERS LATAM). She graduated with honors from the Faculty of Accounting, Administrative and Economic Sciences of the Catholic University "Nuestra Señora de la Asunción" in the city of Asunción, obtaining the title of National Public Accountant. She joined the Banco Central del Paraguay in 2015 after six years working in the private sector. At the Banco Central del Paraguay, since her incorporation she has worked as an accounting analyst in the Accounting Department on issues related to the analysis and development of standards for the registration, control and information of the accounting and financial operations of the BCP. She is currently participating in several projects in accounting and administrative organization with greater emphasis on the project for the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

 

Martín Acosta
Banco Central del Ecuador

Since joining the Banco Central del Ecuador in 2013, he was part of the Financial Management team, where he performed functions as Accounting and Budget Specialist (2013), later he was Budget Management Coordinator (2016), in 2019 he was appointed General Accountant and currently holds the position of Financial and Budget Director (2020), his main activities are developed within the context of developing accounting, tax and budgeting policies, procedures and instructions, applicable to the operations of the Banco Central del Ecuador. Additionally, he is Leader of the Project called "Implementation of Internationally Recognized Accounting Standards". In the private sector he has 3 years previous experience as a financial analyst in various private financial institutions in Ecuador, performing activities of analysis of credit profiles of small and medium-sized companies. He is an Accounting and Auditing Engineer graduated from the Universidad Politécnica Salesiana (Quito, Ecuador); and, he developed his postgraduate studies in "Accounting Management and Corporate Finance" at the la Universidad Central del Ecuador (2017).

 

Luisa Silva
Banco de la República, Colombia

Economist from the Universidad de los Andes, with a Master's degree in Economic Policy from Boston University. She worked in the Ministry of Finance for 5 years and she has been linked to the Banco de la República for 22 years. Currently she is Financial Assistant Manager and I am in charge of the accounting, tax, budgeting, planning and acting areas.

           
Mauricio Guevara
Banco Central de Costa Rica

Mauricio Guevara Guzmán has a degree in business administration with an emphasis in Public Accounting, as well as a specialization in Finance from INCAE. He also has a technician in financial markets from the Institute of Stock Market Studies (IEB) and a Master in Public Finance with an emphasis on Financial Administration from the Institute of Fiscal Studies and UNED, both degrees issued in Spain. He has the credential of Public Accountant and Private Accountant in his country. He is the author of two books on financial instruments and property, plant and equipment, published by the Mexican Institute of Public Accountants. He has participated in different training activities facilitated by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, CEMLA, the Banking University of Panama, among others. He has worked in external audit firms, investment management companies, international organizations and since 2012 at the Central Bank of Costa Rica, where he currently holds the position of Director of the Finance and Accounting Division. On the subject of teaching, he has been an instructor in IFRS matters at the College of Public Accountants of Costa Rica. Since 2004 he has taught accounting classes at the School of Business Administration of the University of Costa Rica. He has been a facilitator of training activities with CEMLA in Chile and Ecuador, and is part of both the Accounting Committee and CEMLA's technical advisory program.

 

Juan Carlos Salazar
Banco Central de Chile

Juan Carlos Salazar is the General Accountant of the Banco Central de Chile. He is a Public Accountant and Auditor from the University of Santiago de Chile, he holds a Diploma in Strategies and Financial Management Control from the University of Chile and a Diploma in International Accounting Standards from the University of Santiago de Chile. He has worked in the accounting area of the Banco Central de Chile for 30 years and has been a member of the CEMLA Accounting Committee since 2010.

 

Yerco Martínez Rojas
Banco Central de Chile

Yerco Martínez Rojas, Public Accountant and Auditor from the University of Santiago de Chile, Master in Audit Accounting from the University of Santiago de Chile and Post Degree in International Accounting Standards from the University of Santiago de Chile. He has worked in the accounting area of the Banco Central de Chile for 10 years, a specialist in IFRS issues and has participated in technical visits to support other Central Banks in the region.

 

Gerardo Graziano
Banco Central de la República Argentina

He is a public accountant graduated from the National University of La Plata (UNLP) and has a master's degree in Finance from the Torcuato Di Tella University. He joined the Banco Central de la República Argentina in 2003 to the Credit Management, area where he was later appointed manager. As of 2019, he has been the Main Manager of the General Accounting Office, whose main functions are to direct and control the activities inherent to the preparation and analysis of the Institution's financial statements, the budget and its control, and the liquidation and control of the Payments. He was an invited instructor by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) for the training and implementation of credit lines for SMEs. Likewise, he was an instructor by the BCRA in credit programs for delegates of the central banks of Venezuela and the Dominican Republic and invited speaker at the workshop on legal, economic and financial aspects of central banking organized by CEMLA in Argentina.

 

Livia Favale
Banco Central de la República Argentina

She is a public accountant graduated from the Faculty of Economic Sciences of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). She has worked at the Banco Central de la República Argentina since 2001. She worked in Credit Management and in 2017 was appointed as Budget and Settlement Manager, understanding in the preparation, analysis and control of the Institution's budget, and in the settlement of payments.

 

Silvana Lepera
Banco Central de la República Argentina

She is a public accountant graduated from the Faculty of Economic Sciences of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) She has worked at the Banco Central de la República Argentina since 1982. She worked in the Balance of Payments and Accounting Managements, and in 2016 she was appointed as Accounting Manager, understanding in the preparation and analysis of the accounting statements of the Institution, and in the definition of accounting aspects of the operations.

 

Eduardo Russolo Ferreira
Banco Central do Brasil

Deputy Head of the Accounting, Budget and Finance Department Bachelor of Accounting, Administration and Information Technology and postgraduate degree in public finance, with several years of experience in accounting and comptroller in the financial system.

 

Javier Pacios
Banco de España

Director of the Department of General Intervention. Management of the Department in charge of the Bank's Accounting System, the Control of the activity of the Operations, Payment and Issuance Systems and Cash Departments, the preparation of the Bank's Budget and the control of expenses, and the management of Operational Risk. Member of the CEMLA Accounting Committee.

 

Víctor Suárez
Banco de México

Director of Accounting, Planning and Budgeting. Coordinate the institutional strategic planning process and supervise the accounting and budgeting record of Banco de México.

 

Flérida Gutiérrez
Banco de México

Financial Information Manager. In charge of coordinating the preparation and disclosure of Banco de México's financial information.

 

• - A Central Bank´s Guide to IFRS