The OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions: A new tool to promote transparency in financial reporting

The OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions went into force in February I999. The purposes of this paper are to: (I) define and assess the extent, costs and consequences of bribery; (2) describe the adoption and analyze the essential provisions of the OECD Convention, with a special emphasis on Article 8 which contains accounting recordkeeping and financial reporting provisions; ( 3) examine the role of the OECD Convention as a catalyst for passage of legislation in signatory nations; and (4) analyze the role of the OECD Convention in promoting transparency and accountability in financial reporting