IASB seeks overseer for its decisions
IASB says it needs a committee to oversee its actions to meet concerns of EU members that feel disenfranchised by the new global standards
The International
Accounting Standards Board (IASB) is discussing the needs for a committee to
oversee its actions in response to concerns from some countries that have been
proposing carve-outs to the global standards in an effort to have their own
interests served.
David Tweedie, IASB chairman, told CFO.com editors the board would officially
announce its plan for putting together such a group, and give details next week.
He said the group could function similarly to the SEC’s oversight of the
Financial Accounting Standards
Board (FASB).
The committee could maintain equanimity over the varying interests
represented on the standards board and act as an ‘endorsement mechanism’ to
ensure it operated in the public interest, allaying fears of SEC becoming a
global regulator and the transfer of USA’s complex GAAP rules to their
countries.
Mr Tweedie said IASB was working to get rid of the carve-outs, particularly
EU’s change to IAS 39. He noted the controversial differences over IAS 39
amounted to a ‘mere seven paragraphs’ of the 2,000 pages of rules and was
largely a matter of semantics as some banks felt they could hedge under IFRS and
others did not.
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