IFRS Foundation’s Future Strategy Open for Discussion
The trustees of the IFRS Foundation, the oversight body of the International Accounting Standards Board, on Friday published a first-stage consultation document to seek input on the foundation’s strategy as it enters its second decade.
The trustees’ document, Status of Trustees’ Strategy Review, says the foundation has succeeded in establishing IFRS as the accepted set of financial reporting standards in more than 100 countries since its founding in 2000 and that “the goal of a single set of high-quality globally accepted accounting standards is within reach. The next 18 months will be critical in determining whether this goal is achieved.”
The trustees attributed the success of IFRS to date, in part, to the willingness of the United States to engage in convergence, accept IFRS for non-U.S. companies and consider adoption for U.S. companies.
The trustees are seeking views of stakeholders on four strategic fronts—the IFRS Foundation’s mission, governance, the standard-setting process, and financing of the IFRS Foundation. The trustees posed the following specific questions for comments:
- Mission: How should the organization (IFRS Foundation) best define the public interest to which it is committed?
- Governance: How should the organization best balance independence with accountability?
- Process: How should the organization best ensure that its standards are high quality, meet the requirements of a well-functioning capital market, and are implemented consistently across the world?
- Financing: How should the organization best ensure forms of financing that permit it to operate effectively and efficiently?
The SEC staff is analyzing how the IASB and IFRS Foundation are funded as part of its consideration of the independence of international standard setting, according to an SEC progress report released last week.
Comments are due Dec. 31, and the trustees said in a press release that they expect to conclude the strategy review during their meeting in March 2011. The trustees also said the strategy review is designed to be far-reaching and that they have yet to reach any conclusions.
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