Tweedie to defend fair value

Sir David Tweedie, IASB chairman

Sir David Tweedie, chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board, has been summoned to Westminster to discuss fair value.

In addition, the Treasury select committee has also called on Paul Boyle, the head of the FRC, and ICAEW chief executive Michael Izza to appear before them on 11 November.

End-users of accounts including the British Bankers Association will also make a contribution during the sessions.

The committee is inviting evidence from interested parties, to be filed by 3 November, and it plans to address several key areas. These include: the purpose of accounts and their audience; the role fair value has played in the crisis; whether any rule changes are needed; and the role and accountability of the IASB.

The IASB chief has had to weather increasing political pressure in the last few weeks as proposals to suspend fair value have been made.

Sir David has attempted to stand his ground, but he may be called upon to explain the IASB’s reclassification efforts, rolled out to reduce the differences between IFRS and US GAAP. This has been interpreted as a partial climbdown in some quarters.