Iraq's Fiscal Year

[HuntTech]

Folks, there have been questions about the dates used for the official Iraq Fiscal Year. The questions seem to revolve around whether it matches the Gregorian Calendar Year or the Islamic Calendar Year... or something altogether different. It is my humble opinion (after research) that the Iraq Fiscal Year starts January 1st and ends December 31st. As a point of reference, the United Arab Emirates also follows this fiscal year structure... UAE Fiscal Year at Wikipedia

For Iraq specifically, we can look at the CBI documentation and other references. According to the Iraqi Constitution, Page 32 | Article 110:

Article 110:

The federal government shall have exclusive authorities in the following matters:

First: Formulating foreign policy and diplomatic representation; negotiating,

signing, and ratifying international treaties and agreements; negotiating, signing,

and ratifying debt policies and formulating foreign sovereign economic and trade

policy.

Second: Formulating and executing national security policy, including

establishing and managing armed forces to secure the protection and guarantee

the security of Iraq’s borders and to defend Iraq.

Third: Formulating fiscal and customs policy; issuing currency; regulating

commercial policy across regional and governorate boundaries in Iraq; drawing

up the national budget of the State; formulating monetary policy; and establishing

and administering a central bank.

Hence, one could presume that the establishment of the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) was a constitutional move and the fiscal year that the CBI follows can be construed as the "official" Iraq fiscal year. If we look at the CBI's definition of their fiscal year, we find that it is indeed Jan 1st through December 31st. Their 2009 Financial Statement (LINK HERE) which was prepared by Ernst & Young as an independent auditor, and is published at the CBI website, states in the opening paragraph:

"We have audited the accompanying financial statements of Central Bank of Iraq (CBI), which comprise the statement of financial position as at December 31, 2009 and the statement of comprehensive income , statement of cash flows and statement of changes in equity for the year then ended, and a summary of significant accounting policies and other explanatory notes."

Again, according to this document the CBI is "... a governmental entity that was established under the Central Bank of Iraq Law Number 43 of 1947 as amended, and carrying out its acitivities under the Central Bank Law of 2004issued by the Coalition Provisional Authority Order Number 56." (Page 9 of 2009 Financial Statement )

According to the CBI's "Banking Law" document found on their website here, the financial year is defined: (page 31, Section 6, Article 40)

Section 6 - Accounts and Financial Statements

Article 40 Financial Year

The financial year of domestic banks shall begin on January 1 and end on December 31 of the same year. For a branch of a foreign bank, the financial year may differ.

Since the CBI is the "official" bank of Iraq and Iraq's financial matters are handled therein, it is safe to say that Iraq itself follows a fiscal year that starts on January 1st and ends on Decemeber 31st.

As further evidence, you can look at some of our official reports regarding Iraq at the GAO, like this report. On page 2 of this report, the footnotes let us know that:

"The Board of Supreme Audit is the supreme audit institution of Iraq, as the GAO is the supreme audit institution of the United States."

On page 8 of the same report (and other places) the Board of Supreme Audit's reports are footnoted like this:

"Republic of Iraq, Board of Supreme Audit, Financial Statement for the Republic of Iraq through 12/31/06 (Sept. 30, 2009)."

It is clear that the Board of Supreme Audit (HERE) ends their financial audit reports on December 31st.

I recommend that anyone interested in the banking laws, the general Constitution, and the relationship of the CBI to the Iraq government should read the above linked documents. It will give you a picture of who/what can do what in relation to the currency. Pay special attention to the Banking Law document at the CBI website.

I hope this clears up the Fiscal Year discussion!

[djwebby]

Thank you.

[mlay901]

Well laid out, thanks for your contribution in clearing this up!

[proteus]

good work...

[FrankenSLI]

Thanks for doing the research! I have seen this argued quite a bit as of late but I do believe we have the answers!