Tweedie to lead IASB for another five years

Sir David Tweedie, the chairman of the IASB, has been re-appointed for a
further five years.

Tweedie has the led the development and introduction of International
Financial Reporting Standards. During his next term Tweedie will focus on the
IASB’s convergence project with the FASB, the accounting standard setting body
in the US.

The International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation, the IASB’s
parent organisation, also announced the appointment of seven new Trustees, which
included such heavyweights as Sir Bryan Nicholson, outgoing chairman of the
Financial Reporting Council, William McDonough, former chairman of the Public
Company Accounting Oversight Board, and Sam DiPiazza, chief executive of
PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The changes come after a year of mixed fortunes for Tweedie and the IASB. The
IASB has introduced IFRS relatively smoothly, with minimal impact on the capital
markets, but the IASB has still come in for harsh criticism. Critics have
claimed that the standards are impractical and make accounts more opaque and
difficult to interpret.

Des Hudson, the chief executive of ICAS, meanhwile, welcomed Tweedie’s
reappointment and voiced his institute’s support for the IASB’s work.

‘Sir David is in charge of possibly the most significant project in
accounting ever – overseeing the introduction of IFRS,’ Hudson said. ‘He is a
well respected figure within the profession and his reappointment will ensure
continuing confidence in his leadership of IFRS convergence. ICAS is fully
behind the project, and we believe that there should be no turning back as the
accountancy profession moves towards IFRS.’