Frustrated critics pan IASB's technical agenda
Experts have criticised the International Accounting Standards Board's recently unveiled plans as too ambitious just a month after the new organisation was officially formed.
At its first board meeting last month the IASB, formerly the IASC, tentatively revealed its lengthy technical agenda with the intention of finalising it by the end of the summer.
But, technical experts and standard-setters have already become frustrated at the slow progress.
Peter Holgate, technical director at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said: ‘What does the IASB want to achieve? It has a heck of a big work programme. It’s not just the number of projects and amount of work involved, it is also a question of the willingness of each country?s standard-setters to converge.’
At next week’s meeting the IASB, chaired by Sir David Tweedie, will meet with the chairmen of the seven main standard-setting bodies from around the world which have agreed to work concurrently with the Board to achieve convergence.
But this agreement is beginning to cause frustration.
Tom Jones, vice-chairman of the IASB, said critics needed to give the board more time.
‘Why would people criticise something that is trying to change what we currently have, which is a wholesale mess?’