Politics and accountancy don't mix, Obama adviser warns

US President Barack Obama's top financial advisor has said there is ‘strong case’ to revise controversial fair value rules but warned against political interference in the setting of accounting standards.

Speaking in China, Paul Volcker, the 81-year-old former Federal Reserve chairman said politicians should not interfere in standard setting and called for international consistency in accounting rules, The Los Angeles Times has reported.

‘Political bodies in Europe and the United States or any other country are simply not the appropriate venue for reaching well-considered judgments that can be enforced internationally…We need a bit patience,’ he said.

The comments come in a week which has seen European pressure on the International Accounting Standards Board which is reviewing controversial fair-value and impairment rules in the wake of the banking crisis.

Board chairman Sir David Tweedie met with European finance ministers on Tuesday in Luxemburg where he said he was on track to deliver a new revised accounting standard by year's end.

Further reading:

Tweedie picks up fair value reform pace