accounting standards and continuously seek answers. this is not to suggest that they should not work within the accepted conceptual framework for risk management but that they should be proactive to emerging risks within the parameters of the framework. let me conclude with the words of sir david tweedie5, recently retired chairman of the international accounting standard board, “ i do believe the accountant is an artist, but he has to portray his subject faithfully. i don ’ t believe the accounting profession ’ s … … ….. judgement should be replaced by a search engine and most questions are answered by the standard - setter or relevant accounting authorities. i don ’ t, on the other hand, believe the painting can be a personal creation. the world has moved on. the picture to be painted is no longer a personal conception about business. how the success or failure of a business should be measured is now determined by standards defining more precisely a conceptual framework agreed by the global financial community ”. all these notwithstanding, the mainstay of accounting profession or, for that matter, “ supervision ” lies always on the concept of, as former president of usa, ronald reagan believed, “ trust …. but verify ”. to what extent should we trust and what extent we verify is a matter of judgement. i am sure the deliberations at this conference have given some clue to arrive at a better judgement. thank you ladies and gentlemen for a patient hearing. “ beancounters or market drivers? – the role of the reporting accountant ”, address by sir david tweedie at the institute of chartered accountants of scotland ( icas ) on 4 september 2008. bis central bankers ’ speeches

has always been a forerunner of financial exchanges. as trade relations increase, corporations, enterprises and businesses will have to rely on a safe financial services network. on the other hand, a sound financial relation helps businesses in both countries to identify and boost their investments. aware of the existence of these opportunities, we believe that an economy may be developed and well integrated, only if its markets are open, efficient, transparent and supervised. our ambition to establish a solid financial infrastructure to support long - term and sustainable development for the country, with the ultimate goal to boost employment and enhance welfare, means necessarily becoming part of global markets, wherein the people ’ s republic of china is a key actor. for this purpose, we negotiated and signed a bilateral swap agreement on the bilateral exchange of respective national currencies. bis central bankers ’ speeches in other words, the swap instrument implies an opportunity to exchange our national currency with the chinese national currency, renminbi, to the amount equivalent of eur 250 million, which may be set higher in the future. i would like to inform you that the albanian banking system may have access in renminbi funds with the only goal to further boost trade and financial relations between the two countries. this agreement is an important element of financial infrastructure that the bank of albania is establishing to attract more chinese foreign direct investments in albania. market participants from both countries, especially chinese investors, should feel secure about adequately meeting their needs for liquidity. dear bank representatives, your contribution is, therefore, indispensable. i would kindly advise for immediate measures to be taken to build a solid platform that would provide for higher volumes of trade and financial exchanges between you and your chinese counterparties, and consequently between albania and china. on our side, we will take all the necessary measures to facilitate the flow of funds in both directions. furthermore, the bank of albania will transmit no additional costs to the banking system, which may arise from intermediation. dear bank executives and representatives, in addition to the cautious pursuit of primary objectives, the bank of albania proactively provides a new stimulus to reinvigorate the country ’ s economic, trade and financial activities. thus the bank of albania joins an increasing group of central banks in this regard, becoming one of the few european central banks that have entered into such an agreement. i would like to draw your attention on some of the elements of the agreement. first, by easing lending terms, the agreement stimulates the deepening of trade relations