Green light for single set of global accounting standards.

The International Accounting Standards Committee board has unanimously backed proposals that take the largest single step yet towards a set of global accounting standards. UK representative, PricewaterhouseCoopers professor of accounting at Reading University Christopher Nobes, told Accountancy Age that the vote in Amsterdam before Christmas marked the last major hurdle before the IASC gets the legalities of the new deal worked out. The breakthrough in talks which had previously seen the Europeans at odds with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, was made in November, but this meeting confirmed that relations have thawed. Although the arrangements must be put to the 140 member bodies of the committee in May, Nobes said he did not expect difficulty in reaching the majority needed. ‘This is extremely important to the future of accountancy and this confirms that there will be a single set of global standards and that the IASC will be writing them,’ he said. The only change to the original report was to the number of new board members liaising with other standards setters. There will now be seven members of the 14-strong board. It is likely that a report, establishing a board of trustees and changing the IASC’s constitution, will be put forward in March.