Politics and accountancy don't mix, Obama adviser warns
Former Federal Reserve chairman says standard setters should be left alone to do their job
US President Barack Obama’s top financial advisor has said there is ‘strong
case’ to revise controversial fair value rules but warned against political
interference in the setting of accounting standards.
Speaking in China, Paul Volcker, the 81-year-old former Federal Reserve
chairman said politicians should not interfere in standard setting and called
for international consistency in accounting rules,
The
Los Angeles Times has reported.
‘Political bodies in Europe and the United States or any other country are
simply not the appropriate venue for reaching well-considered judgments that can
be enforced internationally…We need a bit patience,’ he said.
The comments come in a week which has seen European pressure on the
International Accounting Standards Board which is reviewing controversial
fair-value and impairment rules in the wake of the banking crisis.
Board chairman Sir David Tweedie met with European finance ministers on
Tuesday in Luxemburg where he said he was on track to deliver a new revised
accounting standard by year’s end.
Further reading:
Tweedie
picks up fair value reform pace