(January 25 – 18:30 ET) – The International Accounting Standards Committee unveiled the new International Accounting Standards Board today.

The IASC says that new board members will have the responsibility of working toward a single set of accounting standards that national accounting bodies can broadly support.

The IASC, chaired by former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, appointed the IASC Trustees in May 2000. One of their major tasks was to select the standards-making board.

The trustees reviewed over 200 candidates for board positions. Volcker says, “The trustees were extremely pleased with the exceptional quality of candidates and believe that the board truly reflects the best in the field. The result should bring highly significant economic benefits to both the developed and emerging economies.”

The board will be led by Sir David Tweedie, who served as the first full-time chairman of the U.K. Accounting Standards Board. He was formerly the national technical partner for KPMG and has served as a professor of accounting in his native Scotland. Among the board members are: Thomas Jones, former principal financial officer of Citicorp and chairman of the IASC board; Hans-Georg Bruns, chief accounting officer for DaimlerChrysler; and Robert Garnett, executive vice president of finance for Anglo American plc.

The sole Canadian on the board is Patricia O’Malley, who currently serves as chair of the Accounting Standards Board of Canada. She was a technical partner at KPMG. O’Malley also serves as Canadian liaison with the IASC.

The trustees appointed seven of the board members as official liaisons to national bodies to maintain close contact with their respective national standard-setters, coordinating agendas and ensuring that the new IASB and national bodies are working toward the same goal. Apart from Canada, countries with formal liaisons are France, Germany, Japan, the U.S., the U.K., and Australia and New Zealand together.

The new board is expected to meet for the first time in April 2001.
-IE Staff