ASB chair rejects IFRS labelling as 'rogues' charter'

Ian Mackintosh, chairman of the Accounting Standards Board, has issued an
incendiary response to FTSE chairmen over IFRS, labelling their concerns
‘misplaced nostalgia’ for UK GAAP.

The description, in an article in the Financial Times, followed a
visit to the FRC, of which the ASB is a part, which Mackintosh heads, by a
delegation of FTSE chairmen.

The senior business figures are understood to have raised criticisms of
international financial reporting standards, which have been slated by finance
directors for making company accounts less transparent and more opaque.

According to Mackintosh, one chairman went so far as to comment that the
scope for abuse made IFRS a ‘rogues’ charter’.

Mackintosh accounted for some of the IFRS difficulties as ‘teething
troubles,’ stating that he believed the accountants would probably have moved in
the same direction as the regulatory standards.

Mackintosh pointed out that the International Accounting Standards Board will
issue a document later this year on how fair value should be debated.