Tweedie nearly quit after fair value change

Sir David Tweedie

Sir David Tweedie considered stepping down from his position as the head of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) after effectively being forced to allow the reclassification of hard-to-value financial assets, he admitted at a Treasury committee meeting earlier this week.

When asked whether he had thought about resigning, Sir David said that he had, but was determined to help achieve a single set of accounting standards. ‘We’re almost on the verge of winning the international project. I would hate to walk away at this stage.’

Sir David said that the IASB took the drastic move without the usual due process – involving a consultation period – because the threat posed by an EU carve-out would have totally derailed convergence efforts.

‘If the EU had done another carve-out then the US would have said this is impossible,’ he said. ‘That would have crippled the whole global process. The European Commission said that the legislation to implement the carve-out was all ready to go. Accounting in Europe would have been totally out of control if they had managed to push through the carve-out.’

Flanked by Financial Reporting Council chief Paul Boyle and ICAEW chief executive Michael Izza, MPs levelled accusations of the IASB being ‘spineless’ and ‘caving in’ by allowing reclassification of certain assets, but Tweedie said that the alternative would have been far worse.

Boyle said that this was a key juncture for convergence efforts: ‘We could look back on this as the year that the dream of global accounting standards was killed, or it could be the year we saw the rules made more robust. The jury’s still out.’

Sir David said the proposed carve-out would have lifted restrictions on taking financial instruments out of their usual trading categories: ‘You could have put them anywhere. It would have been a total free-for-all.’

Speaking to Accountancy Age after the meeting, Sir David said the political pressure brought to bear on the IASB to suspend fair value had been ‘regrettable’. He added: ‘We’re not going to be pressured into rushing something through again.’