Letters - Spare us convergence.

Splendid news indeed that Dennis Beresford has realised that absurdly detailed accounting standards are doing more harm than good (Global view, page 6, 26 April).

What a pity this insight didn’t dawn while he was still chairman of the FASB and in a position to do something about it. Beresford says he’s ‘not suggesting throwing out accounting standards’. Perhaps that option is worth considering?

Or at least we might now choose to follow the view of the Dearing Committee that ‘the purpose of accounting standards is to provide authoritative but not mandatory guidance on the interpretation of what constitutes a true and fair view’.

That would leave the way clear for competition in accounting and sensible evolution over time. The last thing we need is worldwide ‘convergence’, which I take to mean a global monopoly by ultra-theoretical standard-setters operating within a conceptual framework which hardly anyone in the real world accepts.

D Myddelton, Bedford.