International Accounting Monitors Choose Leader

The Monitoring Board that was recently established to add more public accountability to the International Accounting Standards Board has held its inaugural meeting and picked its first leader.

The meeting, held in conjunction with the G-20 summit of world leaders, reviewed the response of the IASB to the financial crisis and discussed the role of International Financial Reporting Standards in emerging economies.

The Monitoring Board was established in January to involve government regulatory authorities more closely with the IASB and its parent organization, the International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation (see New Board Will Monitor International Accounting). It was set up in response to criticisms about ambiguities in the governance structure of the IASB and its relationship with official financial regulatory authorities.

Members include the Emerging Markets and Technical Committees of the International Organization of Securities Commissions, the Financial Services Agency of Japan, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision participates as an observer.

At the inaugural meeting, the Monitoring Board selected Hans Hoogervorst as chairman. Hoogervorst (pictured) represents the IOSCO Technical Committee on the Monitoring Board and is the head of the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets.

“Through the Monitoring Board, world securities regulators will have a means for engaging with the IASCF Trustees to provide a rigorous external review of IASCF operations, policies, and procedures, while at the same time protecting the independence of the IASB in its standard-setting work,” he said. “As such, the Monitoring Board serves as a forum for IASCF accountability and gives securities regulators a formal means for providing input to the IASCF and IASB regarding the implementation of IFRS.”

In addition to Hoogervorst, the Monitoring Board meeting with the IASCF was attended by SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro; Guillermo Larraín, Chairman of the IOSCO Emerging Markets Committee and the Superintendencia de Valores y Seguros of Chile; Junichi Maruyama, Deputy Commissioner for International Affairs of the JFSA; European Commissioner Charlie McCreevy and Sylvie Matherat, representative of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.

The next meeting is scheduled for July.