IASCF Issues IASB Governance Restructuring Proposal
AICPA | August 01, 2008
LONDON (July 21) - The International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation, the governing body of the London-based International Accounting Standards Board, issued a proposal to broaden the board’s membership and establish a new international regulatory and institutional panel to monitor development of global accounting standards.
The proposal would establish a new Monitoring Group that would be composed of the heads of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, World Bank, European Commission, International Monetary Fund, International Organization of Securities Commissions and Japan Financial Services Agency.
As the IASB becomes the global accounting standard setter, the proposal calls for an expansion of board members to 16 from 14 by 2012 with a geographical requirement that four members come from each of Asia, Europe and North America, one from each of Africa and South America and two from any region, according to the proposal.
The Monitoring Group would link to the IASC Foundation to enhance its "transparency and public accountability" without "impairing the independence of the standard-setting process," according to an IASC statement.
The IASC Foundation's Trustees discussed the proposal with 30 participating organizations in London on June 19 and plan to continue talks in Beijing on Oct. 9-10 with the new changes taking effect in 2009. The proposal was issued in the form of a discussion document entitled Review of the Constitution: Public Accountability and the Composition of the IASB – Proposals for Change.
