Tweedie brushes off funding threats

Sir David Tweedie said the threat was a 'red rag to a bull' and told newspapers in the Far East: 'They can carry it out if they want to.'

He also said he would like to see the standard setter's funding move away from donations from interested bodies to a levy on stock exchanges around the world.

He added: 'There are other ways we can get our funding, other people have agreed to fund a certain amount. What we should like to do, I suspect, is not have our funding in way of donations, but really as a levy on the major stock exchanges.'

The stock options standard has proved highly controversial with some estimations putting the cost to UK profits at around £5bn.

Just a week ago Sir David published the draft standard which would make stock options an expense in the accounts.

Accountancy Age recently revealed that the Law Society has written to the UK's Accounting Standards Board and the IASB warning that the standard might be illegal.