Libyan Investment Authority, Tripoli, launched a strategic project to change the way it prepares consolidated financial statements for all its companies, portfolios and investment funds.
The move is part of the sovereign wealth fund's transformation strategy, a spokeswoman said.
As part of the project — the LIA's largest strategic project — the wealth fund has finalized a comprehensive plan to prepare consolidated financial statements and will assess the current status of all financial policies and standards that are currently used by fund executives. It will also conduct "gap analysis," details of which were not available. Its work will culminate in the creation of a template consolidated financial statement for use be all companies associated with the wealth fund, in accordance with international standards, a news release said.
The LIA is also implementing a plan for training and qualifying employees in the financial departments and relevant areas of the fund's subsidiary companies. Training will include how to deal with financial report forms, offloading and classification mechanisms and about international standards. Specialized international consultants will provide support in the preparation of consolidated financial statements.
The goals are to allow for the detection, identification and settling of accounting and legal problems related to compliance, tax and financial issues across subsidiaries; to give a complete and comprehensive picture of the LIA's investments in line with international best practices; to allow for better strategic decision-making; and to enable the application of the Santiago Principles, the news release said, referring to the global principles for sovereign wealth funds to promote transparency and sound governance.
Libyan Investment Authority had $68.4 billion in assets as of Dec. 31, 2019, its latest valuation.
