IASB drops fast-track corrections
Strong opposition from business and the profession forces IASB to drop plans for fast-track scheme to change standards
The International Accounting Standards Board has abandoned plans to introduce
a new fast-track scheme with the aim of altering standards, after strong
opposition from business and the profession.
At a meeting last week, members of the IASB agreed to shelve its technical
corrections policy, following a large number of negative responses to its
proposals and difficulties that had been encountered with the first trial
correction to IAS21 on changes to foreign exchange rates.
Board member Jim Liesenring said the experiment it had undertaken with IAS21
showed that ‘it simply wasn’t worth it’. Fellow board member Mary Barth admitted
that she had initially thought it was a good idea, ‘but now we are into it, I
have changed my mind’.
The proposed policy had provoked critical reaction to altering the contents
of standards without publishing a full, revised version. Those disaffected
included the Hundred Group of FDs, Barclays, and the UK Accounting Standards
Board.
Peter Hogarth, accounting technical director at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said
the policy would not be missed as long as the IASB was ‘still able to address
concerns quickly’. But he argued that this issue was the ‘thin end of the wedge’
as ‘even if the IASB does turn round something in 30 days, you end up waiting
another 10 months for it to get through the EC.