Fears grow of interference from accounting standards watchdog
Concerns rise over new oversight body to monitor the creation of accounting standards
Concerns rise over new oversight body to monitor the creation of accounting standards
Plans to create a new oversight body to monitor the creation of accounting
standards are running into criticism, as fears grow that the new body could
undermine the effectiveness of the
IASB.
The concerns are focused particularly on the idea that the body could ask
questions on any area of the
IASB’s work.
The members of the group will have the authority to approve trustee
selection, request meetings with the trustees or separately with the chairman of
the trustees, or the chairman of the IASB as appropriate, about any area of work
of either the trustees or the IASB.
A working group of the International Accounting Standards Committee
Foundation responsible for the governance of the IASB proposed the group,
which will act as the formal link between its trustees and public authorities.
‘There is concern about the monitoring group, politics and regionalisation,
with the danger that there is a chance for politicians to interfere as they take
regions into account,’ a source said.
‘The board has been criticised for being too theoretical and not having
enough day-to-day contact with the real world… but the proposals don’t do
anything about that. They make the process more political and therefore more
difficult,’ the source added.
It is understood that senior IASB figures fear a meddling approach to the
board’s oversight from politicians on the new body, but it is not known what
chairman Sir David Tweedie thinks of the new plans.